Friday Foodie

Summer is in full swing around here and that means cooking foods that require less time in the kitchen.  I did a round up of summer recipes last year that you can find here.  One favorite that appears on Les' wish list each summer is Lemonade Pie.  This recipe came from Grandma Luella and I have made it many times through this years.  While shopping for the ingredients, my store did not have frozen lemonade.  Bottled lemonade doesn't work, I needed the concentration of frozen.  The only choices were orange or pineapple juice.  I went with pineapple and it was an excellent choice!

Pineapple Pie

6 oz. frozen pineapple juice concentrate (bring to room temperature)
4 oz. low fat cream cheese, softened
7 oz. fat free sweet condensed milk
8 oz. lite Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust

Mix pineapple juice and cream cheese well
Add sweet condensed milk, whip until foamy
Fold in Cool Whip until smooth - do not over-stir or your pie will be runny and not set.  This works best if your Cool Whip is still partially frozen.
Add to pie crust and freeze for 1 hour or until set.

 

This was the perfect mix of sweet and tangy.  It is also cool and refreshing with no cooking required.  Makes 8 servings.

July 5th edit:  I should have added that the original recipe makes two pies.  That makes buying the ingredients a lot easier, so if you're feeding a family or a crowd, the original ingredient list is below.  You can also use full fat cream cheese and sweet condensed milk if you want.  Divide the pie ingredients evenly in the two pie crusts.

1 can (12 oz.) frozen pineapple juice concentrate (bring to room temperature)
8 oz. low fat cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) fat free sweet condensed milk
16 oz. lite Cool Whip
2 graham cracker crust

Happy Plants!

 

I know I keep saying we are almost done with our landscaping, and we are, but we're not there yet.  All of our plants are in the ground, weed barrier and drip irrigation lines are in, but we ran out of decorative rocks.  We'll be getting one final order in the next day or two, but until then, let me give you an update:

 

Our grass went in on Monday, June 7th.  Naturally, the weather heated up, so we've been watering like crazy.  All the watering is paying off, so much that Les had to mow the lawn yesterday.  It's so thick and lush...

While Les was mowing and edging, I was pruning.  I am amazed at the growth of so many of our plants.  Many needed more space, so I moved some of the rock and cut back the weed barrier.  These are Intrigue Canna Lilies, some of the first plants we planted:

If you look closely, you can compare where they are on the wall.  They've grown approximately 6 inches in the past month!

I even discovered some new shoots coming out of the ground:

The change in our banana trees is astounding!

I've never considered myself a gardener or one with a green thumb, but Les and I are both really enjoying the fruits of our labor.  There's a lot to be said about doing the work yourself!

Friday Fitness Surprise

 I realize I've been pretty quiet here on the blog this month.  We have been BUSY!  All of our plants are now in - a total of 11 trees and 158 plants!  Yes, you read that correctly.  We have six trees in the front with 56 plants, and five trees in the back with 102 plants.  Our final plant went in Monday night:

All the weed barrier and irrigation lines are in.  We have just a little more decorative rock to do.  I'll do a full reveal next week.  But here are a couple shots:

I headed to the trail for a run this morning.  About 2.5 miles up, I saw these guys:

I made it just passed the four mile mark before turning around.

I was enjoying myself on the way down, but also aware that cattle could be around the next curve.  Much to my surprise, there were three calves!  Two of them were walking across the trail just as I came around the curve.  By the time I had  my phone out, they were already off the trail.  I had to stop for a few more shots:

8.17 miles total in one hour, 37 minutes.  Almost 1,000 feet of climbing (and descending) and 626 calories burned.  My weight loss has been stalled for the past month.  I hadn't gained, but I also hadn't lost anything.  I was finally down another pound this morning for a total of 27 pounds and 28.5 inches in 26 weeks.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Sunrise Edition

Mirror, Mirror

 

My YouVersion Bible study last week was called, "Daily Jewels- Aligning Your Crown As A Daughter Of The King."  The description for the plan said, "Look around. In the midst of chaos, there is always a jewel to be found. Daily Jewels is a 7-day devotion that calls you to boldly align your crown as a daughter of the King. Join me on a treasure hunt to discover the extraordinary jewels hidden in the ordinary places."

 

I thought Saturday morning's was outstanding.  It was called, "The Dreaded Mirror."   The author wrote, "I have made a habit of using the words “fat, ugly, plain, old, and gross” when I see what is reflected back and there are just some nights I don’t want to face it. You can basically say, “I beat myself up.” "  She continued, "The feeling of wanting to be invisible consumed me, until God showed me in Genesis that “We were created in His image.” I read that scripture one day and the Lord gently said, “Stop bashing me.”"

 

This reminded me of a Bible Study Les taught more than a decade ago.  I blogged about it and decided to re-post the entire thing:

 

Les taught a really good Bible study last Wednesday night. "God's Image versus Self Image." He brought out so many points about how our self image is based on family or friends or Hollywood instead of remembering that we are made in God's image.

He challenged us to look in the mirror first thing each morning and say to ourselves, "YOU are made in the image of God." I've been trying to remember to do that each morning. If I remember I am made in God's image I'm going to do a better job taking care of myself. Les and I had a really funny exchange as we were getting ready for church Sunday morning:

Les: What do you see in the mirror?
Me: Bushy eyebrows...
Les: Uh!! (with much eye rolling and shaking of head)
Me: Well, that's what I was looking at! I know, I'm made in the image of God. I guess God has bushy eyebrows...

What a difference it makes when we aren't trying to look like the latest rising star or the thinnest runway model or the tallest basketball player! We all have days when we would rather not even look in the mirror. On those days when you're looking at eyebrows that are bushy, or hair that is flat, or a figure that isn't what it use to be, remember:

You are:

• Made in the Image of God
• Chosen by God
  
• A Child of God
• An Heir of God
• A Joint-Heir with Christ
• A King and Priest Unto God
• The Apple of His Eye

Feeling better, now?

My New Coffee Spot

I enjoyed coffee out on the patio this morning.  My view was a tad different from a few weeks ago...

As of this morning we have planted 25 plants in our backyard and 50 (FIFTY!!!) plants in the front.  We have about 10-12 to go in the front and 25-30 in the back.

 

My favorites so far are definitely the varieties of Canna Lilies.  We have Tropicannas and Chocolate Infernos in the front: 

 

 

and Intrigues in the back:

 

We planted three Japanese Maple trees.  

 

 

These came in 15 gallon buckets, so the holes were big!

 

Big enough to climb in.  Les said, "now act like you're a tree..."

We have three Red Leaf Banana trees.  The front one needed some extra stabilization:

 

We got a second plant order on Wednesday and will receive our final order next Friday.

We even have plants in our new planter.  We're doing the upper planter first, using the lower to stage everything since we don't want to walk all over our new grass.

But the real star of the show is this guy, the mastermind behind it all!  

 

It's been a ton of work, but we've done it together.  When it's finished, we'll be able to enjoy it together. 

Us on our 30th Anniversary a couple weeks ago!

Sneak Peak Saturday

Planting Party at the McElhaney Place!

 

After months of work, we are finally putting our yard back together.  Our first plant order arrived on Wednesday.  Les took Thursday and Friday off and we started digging!

We got these guys planted on Thursday.  We have never done this before, so there was a bit of a learning curve.  15 plants total (the tall palms and Roebelinni were already there.)

 

We also received a shipment of small stones that we are using as ground cover.  We have weed barrier, then the stones will cover it in hopes of preventing an abundance of weeds.

We really got going on Friday.  I planted 7 rose bushes and 3 Tropicannas. Each of these were in 5 gallon buckets, so I got quite a workout.  We want one more rose bush in this area, so I dug an additional hole while I was at it.

While I was planting in the front yard, Les was hauling stones to the back.  

 

The stones are very dusty...

But they look amazing after a quick rinse.

This area is 100% complete now.

The work continues today, we'll take tomorrow off for church and some much needed rest, then we'll be back at it on Monday.  If you're local, feel free to come by and grab a shovel!

30 Years!

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary!  We won't be taking a fancy trip, but we are together and that makes it a great day.  Would you like to take a walk down memory lane with me via photos?  Here are 30 for 30:

Our wedding:

I don't have any of us together on our honeymoon, but here we are on Kauai:

I can't remember all the details from every picture, but here we are through the years: