Lovely Little Penguin

Monday night at our garden club meeting Charlotte Nelson delighted us by making these cute little penguins. We all thought they were adorable (who wouldn't!) and she said she got the idea online.

How did she make them? Two black olives (pitted), softened cream cheese, dry ranch dressing mix, a carrot (sliced into rounds) and one of those cute umbrellas.

Cut one of the olives in half. Take one carrot round and slice out a "beak" leaving the rest intact (about a sixth of the carrot). Mix cream cheese with ranch dressing mix to taste, then pipe it into the center of the divided olive. Place the other half on top and use the carrot round for the base. Stuff the carrot "beak" into the hole of the other olive. Place it on top of the body and secure with the umbrella. These are great for a party and children will LOVE them!

I took one home to my husband and he had eaten the little sculpture before I could say, "Save this for photos."

He then said "Yum, this is really good!"

I wasn't surprised. It is cute, too!

Super Bowl and chicken

I will start off by saying that I like chicken wings, but they are not my favorite. Obviously, I am in the minority on that. Judging from the amount of email newsletters I have received so far this week--especially from the Southern Living, Martha Stewart and Better Homes and Gardens people-- with every conceivable recipe for chicken wings known to man--there will be tons of chicken wings served during the Super Bowl weekend.

Most of the recipes have been either Barbecued or Sweet and Sour, but I have also received recipes for Thai, Jerk, Buffaloed, Crunchy Sesame and the most unusual, Citrus Caramel. I can't imagine what kind of wings people will be eating by Sunday, since each recipe seems to be trying to best the other. The obvious choice for Sunday is chicken.

In our family, we usually go to Publix and pick up some of their fat, tender, juicy wings--that come in a number of flavors.

 

http://everydayfinesse.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-years-finger-foods.html

I do however have a greater appreciation for chicken tenders and I have a couple of options that I prefer to cook on Sunday. One of them is the bacon-wrapped chicken bites, above and the other is Gluten-free chicken bites, below, with agave-mustard dipping sauce, a healthier version--though I may try baking some bacon wrapped wings. Frying them was too messy for me.

http://everydayfinesse.blogspot.com/2012/04/baked-gluten-free-chicken-nuggets.html

I think part of my lack of enthusiasm is due to the fact that our local team, the Falcons didn't make it for the last game. Since our season ended last week, this Sunday is definitely bittersweet. That doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't kick back and enjoy their wings and chicken tenders--either home-cooked or from Publix or Chick-fil-A. It is, at least always fun to watch those Super Bowl commercials.

Crossroads Garden Club Meets tonight at 7:00 pm

Tonight's speaker for Crossroads Garden Club will be Denise Best, a Master Gardener from Coweta County. Her topic is Winter plants. Our meetings are at 3072 Highway 154, Newnan, Ga and begin at 7:00 pm sharp. We have open meetings. Everyone is invited. Denise Best, originally from South Africa, moved to Sharpsburg's Kripple Kreek subdivision in 1998 and has turned her plainly-landscaped yard into an amazing garden. Soon after moving to Coweta county, Best became a Master Gardener and has become a popular speaker in our area. Best's garden was on the cover of Coweta Living in 2007/2008. You can learn more about Best at thebesttours.com. 

 

We will begin our meeting with the presentation by Denise Best and have a short business meeting, followed by refreshments.

Taste of Lemon Restaurant

Back before Christmas, before working on the January/February issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine, Angela (the editor) and I made a short road trip to LaGrange, Ga., to do a little Christmas shopping. We wanted to look for unique gifts in the downtown area and also say a big "Thanks" to the local merchants who advertise each year in our Christmas issue.

The photo above is a not so beautiful photo of the main square in LaGrange, reminiscent (to me) of Savannah with a big central fountain and public area surrounded by shops and public buildings.

We enjoyed our visit, though many of the stores we were planning to visit that day (Wednesday) happened to be closed. We were able to shop at the Marketplace shop where we looked at all of the vintage, antique and other items in a nice, multi-level shopper's delight. I found several presents there and I would love to go back. (It's sad that I didn't realize my reflection was in my photo!)

After shopping we found a real treasure when we stopped for lunch at A Taste of Lemon Restaurant. It is a true gem that was once a historic church, purchased and moved just outside of the main shopping area and across from the parking deck.

In fact, the outside of the main restaurant area looks very much as it once did as you can see in the old photo, below that Angela found of the building when it was a church. It looks like a kitchen was added to the back--I am sure more improvements were made, but the owners were true to the original architecture. I love that.

 As we walked in, we were directed to find a seat in the busy restaurant. We sat in an area I think could have been the choir area and a friendly waitress quickly came over to take our order, as we admired the atmosphere. The interior was bright and cheery and decorated for Christmas. I loved the atmosphere and I am sure it is a popular spot for residents.

I ordered the vegetable plate which, if I remember correctly, was a small serving of all their vegetables. I think there were around ten items and a small square of cornbread. Everything was SO GOOD! I think I ate almost everything and washed it down with a nice glass of tea.

The meat and three was what Angela ordered and her plate was brimming with delicious vegetables, cornbread and quiche--which she couldn't finish. It was all so delicious.

It was one of the best southern cuisine restaurants I have been to in a while. Good food. Nice people. Great atmosphere. It is a true gem. I want to go again.

In a pamphlet on the LaGrange website I noticed that the Taste of Lemon Restaurant was described as the best kept secret in town. I can't see that. I am sure everyone in the surrounding area has gone there for a taste and I am sure, found it very good.

Making a babygate: a weekend project

As I arrived at my daughter's house this past weekend, she flashed a list of projects for us to complete before the weekend was done. I am happy to say we almost completed her list.

One of the listed items was a nice-looking baby gate for her stairs. Her nine-month-old is constantly crawling to the stairs and pulling up, threatening to start climbing. Last week, she caught him beginning the climb so she had to either go out and purchase a gate, or we had to make one, pronto.

One of the problems with baby gates--they can be very expensive, they aren't usually attractive and you don't usually have any choice about designs. Most baby gates attach with hardware which means putting ugly screw holes into sheet rock and for her, the sheet rocked wall doesn't begin for a few stairs and you can't let the baby climb several stairs before coming to a gate. Other walls can be attached to spindles but the spindles can unfortunately become marred or scratched.

My daughter came up with a design for a gate made from low-cost materials that included 1/2-inch PVC tubing, PVC joints, super glue, material, thread and industrial strength Velcro.

She had the Velcro, the material and thread (bought from a dollar counter at WalMart some time ago), and the super glue. She had to purchase the PVC tubing and the connectors. All the materials came to a cost of approximately ten bucks! Much cheaper than what she could have bought ready-made.

When we asked the lady for helping in finding a tool to cut the PVC, she said, "Just borrow my PVC cutting tool and bring it back when you are done." Thanks Greta at Home Depot. You are the best!

The tool was easy to use and we quickly constructed our frame.

 On each vertical side we added a strip of industrial self-sticking Velcro around the PVC.

The next step was gluing the top and bottom horizontal "rod poles" together.

Then my daughter sewed the fabric and made pockets for the top and bottom. She decided to sew flaps on each side to which she placed the industrial, spiky self-stick Velcro. She ripped out a small T-shape in the seam to insert the vertical poles, then inserted the top and bottom rods and the center poles (that had to be bent a bit to insert). The material holds the vertical poles tightly so there is no give and no need to add glue. The gate was then ready to use.

There is no set way you have attach the Velcro. This was the way my daughter decided to do it and it worked quite well. Ties could also work but might not be as sturdy as the industrial Velcro. Another idea was Velcro-ed straps but she really didn't want the straps to show and she wanted to hide the piping as much as possible.

I think this was an ingenious plan and execution which proves again that you can do almost anything with a little determination. Now the baby will have to learn to climb on something else.

Why I love this cookbook

One of my presents this Christmas (from my daughter) was the relatively new, The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. I am really enjoying it not only because it has great recipes but I love the step-by-step illustrations. I think photos are one of the best things you can add to a cookbook, especially for a novice cook. I don't consider myself a novice, but as a blogger who puts recipe after recipe on her blog, this book is like a primer for me. It shows exactly what a cook needs to ensure the recipe is followed correctly--and I have at times been confused with recipe directions.

For instance, take this recipe for pizza. (A dough recipe is also given.) The description is good, but to know just how the recipe should look and how much of something needs to be used, well as they say, a picture IS worth a thousand words.

For someone who has never cooked at all, a few of the recipes might be simple but the photos can tell you the little secrets behind what a good does to give a dish a little extra--finesse.

There are some time-saving recipes as well. The make-ahead muffin melts look easy and we all need recipes for those really busy days.

The PW recipes I have tried so far are always good. I'm not saying they are always healthy but they are great for entertaining and, well--everything is easier when you follow along with the photos.

At this time of year, when we are looking to shed pounds it might not be a great time to make the desserts. They are very good and too tempting but I might suggest making one of the desserts for special company, a birthday or to celebrate after you reach your weight goal. I am sure if you lived on a working ranch, as does this cookbook's author, it would be easy to work off extra calories. Need I say more?

I also love the recipes for pickles and jam. I think canning and putting things by is a lost (domestic) art, but that's another topic.

For a new bride or new cook and for trendy, food recipes--this is THE book.

For Valentine's Day: More Oreo Pops

After I posted a blog on Oreo Pops that made great Christmas favors, my friend Charlotte Nelson sent me these photos of the pops she made to give out at a Christmas party. I loved the way she put them on long sticks and turned them into Posie-Pops! Cute basket!

Her photos started me thinking about how versatile these pops could be. With no cooking and a not too much effort, you can make these pops into favors for almost any occasion.

 I really loved the way Charlotte made these her own by using crushed Oreos to garnish her pops as I did. (See mine pictured below.)

These would make great Valentine pops just by changing up one or more things. You could use pink candy coating, available at craft stores or pink hearts, especially if you could find some small, red hearts. I did find one photo with pops made for Valentine's Day.

This one uses chocolate coating with red hearts and crushed candy and can be found at MorganMoore.typepad.com. If you have a Pinterest account, just log in and type in Oreo pops and you will be amazed at the ideas there.

Here is the link to my blog post giving the details of how to make them and happy pre-Valentine's Day favor-making. Your friends will love you for these yummy treats.