Birth of a Dragonfly

By the time we noticed the alien-looking creature emerging from its shell, the most difficult part of the process must have already occurred.  From then it took around half an hour to completely hatch, let its wings unfold and get ready to fly.  Amazing!

Garlic Roasted Chicken

Cover the bottom of a large pot with olive oil.

Add in:

1 inch chunks or half inch slices of 2-3 large potatoes, or equivalent of any other kind.

4 large carrots, cut in 1 inch pieces

4 celery stalks, cut to same size

1 large spanish onion, cut to same size

2 entire heads of garlic, all cloves peeled

Clean a small - medium chicken and rub the skin with salt and olive oil.  Place on top of the vegetables in the pot.  Pour 1 cup of any white wine over the top.  Cover and cook in 350 degree oven.

After 30 minutes, add another cup of white wine, and several tablespoons of butter on top.  Keep it covered.

At 60 minutes, add another cup of white wine, a few more pats of butter, and uncover it.  Let it brown for the last 30 minutes.  At 90 minutes it's ready.  The potatoes will be soft and the garlic cloves just lovely.  Serve the wine sauce from the bottom of the pot with the veggies and chicken.

 

Cindy's Dump Cake

1 Stick of butter or margarine

1 Can of crushed pineapple

1 Can of cherry pie filling

1 White cake mix

Spread the crushed pineapple with its juice in the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.  Next dump and spread the cherry pie filling over the pineapple.  Then spread the dry cake mix over the pie filling.  Finally, slice the butter/marg and place the slices on top of the cake mix.  Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.

It's incredibly yummy, rib-sticking, make you feel like a little kid again good.

Next, I'm going after Mary for her pea salad, and then this blog will have a perfect meal.

Mom's Salads

Here are Mom's salads, apparently based on the Metropolitan Market's salad bar in Seattle.  Use whatever quantities you like:

Chick peas

Grape tomatoes

Chopped red onion

Cumin

Vinaigrette dressing, or Drew's garlic italian

Also:

Cooked or canned corn

Grape tomatoes

Chopped red onion

Salt, pepper

Vinaigrette dressing, or Drew's garlic italian

Amazing Scrambled Eggs

Some of the best eggs I've ever made:

1 or 2 small onions minced very fine (around 1/3 cup)

4 torn up slices of "flat cheese" (otherwise known as American - I've recently replaced the traditional Kraft singles with Horizon organic - who knew that any brand could possibly taste better than Kraft?)

10 eggs

a few tablespoons of milk

salt, pepper

Whip them all together and cook over medium-low heat with olive oil, stirring constantly until done.  They'll be the creamiest, tastiest scrambled eggs ever.  Doesn't sound like much, but they are fantastic.

Dreaming of Summer

Photos of previous summer gardens...

Cholesterol

Had my first physical in a decade and the doctor told me my cholesterol is so low I should be bragging about it.  This is me bragging.

The diet is 99% vegetarian + dairy + moderate weekly red wine + daily latte + lots of whole grains, olive oil and raw onions.  Yeah, and toothpaste.