Chocolate Bananna Milkshake

I used to make banana milk shakes for my lunch when I was trying to loose weight all the time. They are really good to me and it counts for 1 serving of milk and 1 or 2 servings of fruit depending on the size of banana that I use. But a few weeks ago I was reading an article in Prevention magazine about the importance of fiber in the diet and one of their suggestions was to put a tablespoon of baking cocoa powder in smoothies to increase the fiber content. I looked on my can of baking cocoa and sure enough it is true. One tablespoon of cocoa has 2 grams of fiber.
I love chocolate so I decided to give it a try. It taste great to me. Here is how I do it: I put one banana in my blender, add one cup of skim milk, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring, two packets of artificial sweetener and one tablespoon of baking cocoa powder. I start that to blending and then add a cup of ice cubes one cube at a time. It comes out nice and thick and very cold.
There were quite a few tips for getting more fiber in your diet. I am going to try them and let you know what I think about them in later posts.

Whole Wheal Dinner Rolls

Whole wheat bread is much better for you that white bread. Mostly because of the fiber it adds to your diet. Unfortunately, it cost more too. Since I am on a tight grocery budget, I make my own for a fraction of the cost.
These rolls I made small so one roll is the equivalent of one slice of bread. For breakfast each morning I slice 2 rolls in half and microwave them for 15 seconds. In a bowl I scramble 1 egg and microwave for 20 seconds, stir and microwave for 20 more seconds. Then cut the egg in half, fold each half up and put it on the rolls. It makes a nice breakfast with two servings of whole grain and one serving of protein.
When I got the bread cooked, I divided them up in quart size bags (with 10 rolls in each bag) and put them in the freezer so they wouldn't get stale before I could finish them. All together I put 4 bags in the freezer and 1 bag out for me to be eating on.

This picture shows the ones that I tried to get a little fancier with. I used a muffin tin and made three small dough balls for each cup. I use these for dinners when I want to show off a little.

Peaches

A couple of days ago I got in the mood to can peaches. I called my Mom's cousin Lois and asked her to go with me to get some (Lois knows where all the good orchards are around here). We went to one over in Marionville, about 20 miles from here. The ones they had ready were called semi-freestone and they were picked fresh from the tree that morning, so I bought a half bushel.
I used the instructions out of the Ball's Blue Book canning guide. I made 6 pints and 1 1/2 pint of peaches in heavy syrup (my husbands choice).

This picture is of the peach chutney that I made. I have never tried it before, but My daughter and I decided to try a few new things and trade jars so we both could decide if we liked it or not, and chutneys is something they are always talking about and using on some of the cooking shows that I watch on TV, so peach chutney is the one I decided on (my daughter made tomato chutney, I can't wait to taste it). I know they advise against it, but I used some old salsa jars for part of it, and one of them didn't seal (so it is in my refrigerator right now waiting to be used). All together I got two 15 1/2 oz salsa jars (plus the one that didn't seal) and four 1/2 pints. The peach chutney taste like sweet and sour sauce to me. I think it is going to be really good on sweet and sour pork or sesame chicken.

This is peach butter. I have never tried making it before, but one year for Christmas I made enough apple butter to give as presents to my whole family and everybody loved it, so I wanted to see if peach butter would go over as well. I only got 6 half pints (one didn't seal so it is in the refrigerator for me), so if I want to give them as Christmas presents this year I am going to have to get some more peaches. It taste really good to me, and spreads on toast with ease.

This is peach preserves. This is what I went and got the peaches for in the first place. My husband likes strawberry preserves the best, but my favorite is peach. I got nine 1/2 pints.

I also froze a gallon bag of peaches for a peach cobbler the next time my son comes for a visit.

All together, I think a half bushel of peaches went a long way. I was pretty proud of my accomplishments, but then I thought it took me three days to put up a half bushel of peaches, and my Grandma would have done it in one afternoon. Oh well, I am still proud, and I think she would be too.

Garden Update

This is a picture of my tomato vines. There are three of them and I have them growing on a fence so they will grow up instead of spreading out on the ground. I thought this would make picking easier. The fence is 4 foot tall and the tomato vines are to toe top already. I don't know where I will go from here. They took a beating during that hail storm we had a few weeks ago, but as you can see they have bounced back with a vengeance. All the tomatoes that were on the vines at the time of the storm were destroyed but I have plenty of blooms and little tomatoes now.

This is the end of the garden where I have my black-eye peas planted.They are beginning to send out runners and I am training them to climb the fence.

This picture shows my pepper plants, and the new lettuce that I planted about 2 weeks ago. Also, the soaker hose watering system. I have it on a timer at the faucet so it will water everything for me, even if I am not home.

My egg plants are doing good. they have a lot of blooms and a few small egg plants on them already. These are the long skinny variety that my husband likes cooked on the grill.

Baby Bubble

This is my Granddaughter, Lucy. She is wearing a baby bubble that I made following instructions from a Sew Beautiful magazine that I purchased about 11 years ago. I crocheted around the Peter Pan collar and the cuffs on the sleeves. It has knife pleats in the front and back to give it more room (the bubble effect), and snaps between the legs.
Lucy looks just beautiful in it. Blue is definitely her color.

Pineapple Table Topper

I made this table topper a few years ago. The original pattern called this a table runner, and it was supposed to be made with size 30 crochet thread and a size 10 crochet hook, but I wanted it larger than that so I used size 10 (bedspread weight) crochet thread and a size 8 hook. I still have to work in all the tails, and block it out, but I think when I get it done it will fit the top of my table exactly. The booklet this pattern came from is a very old one, originally printed in 1946 by The Spool Cotton Company.

Flowers

I planted this rose bush in my front flower bed a few years ago, about two weeks before that big ice storm that we had here in Missouri that knocked all the power out for several weeks.
I planted a Japanese Maple at the same time. Well, I thought the ice storm had killed them, it did kill the Maple, but the rose bush came back. The name of the Rose bush is Ingrid Bergman, I cant remember the name of the company that produces them. I chose this one because Ingrid Bergman was always one of my favorites, and it is such a beautiful red. When I first planted it, I didn't know much about growing roses, I am learning as I go. This particular variety is pretty hardy, I haven't had much trouble.
This plant is called Salvia. I got three 6" pots of them last year along with three pots of Blue Fescue ornamental grass. I planted two Salvia and all the Blue fescue by my mail box and the other Salvia in my front flower bed. The Blue fescue didn't do good at all. I guess it was too hot for it in direct sun. It burned right up, but the Salvia did good last year in both locations. Last winter when it died back I cut it down pretty low to the ground and this spring it came in big and full. I get a lot of compliments on it.

I also have Day Lilies and Allison False Heather in my yard. The Heather is at its prettiest in the early spring and I didn't think to take a picture of it then. I will take a picture of the day lilies when they are in full bloom.