A walk with Scout

Scout and I walked up to Shroeter Park yesterday after dinner...

 

 Just a few blocks away.  Chasing the sunset...

This park, smack dab in the middle of suburbia, is like a desert garden out in the country.  

It has some amazing patches of Agave and Prickly Pear.

 

It's easy to forget you are only a few blocks from home.  

There are mulched trails throughout the park.

A heart shaped cactus - sweet!

I wore comfy clothes and tennies and came home covered in burrs, sweating half to death.  This park is surrounded by a granite gravel track that I used to walk regularly.  I should probably start that up again...maybe just not at day's end - yuck.

 But we were just here to see nature, and the setting sun gave us such nice light to photograph.

 Curved wall around a playscape near where we take family photos - such a beautiful place.

A path in and around patches of mesquite and cacti.  The sounds of cicadas was deafening!

 Dried blooms on some unknown-to-me weed.  Beautiful even when dried out.

 

 Some of these trees have to be generations old, when this area was farmland.

 Hurry!  We're almost out of light!

Until tomorrow...

Crockpot carmelized onions

I got this idea from my mother, who regularly makes these onions in her crockpot, then enjoys them on cold sandwiches or with her dinner.  She likes to use whole onions.  I decided to slice this batch to make them easier to serve.  Here's what I used:

Start with about 3 pounds of sweet onions.  These are from Central Market and are called Texas Sweet, very similar to Vidalias.

I put about 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted  butter in the bottom of my big crock pot and set the temp to low while I sliced up the onions.  I had to work fast - those onions were powerful!  I always end up looking like something out of a horror flick with red eyes and tears streaming down my cheeks.

This time I sprinkled about a tablespoon of brown sugar over them, but you could skip this step.  Especially if you are using a variety of sweet onion.  I covered them, and off the boys and I went to do errands and pool all day.  These spent about 9 1/2 hours on low.

Halfway through the cooking time I gave them a stir.  The onion aroma filled the kitchen and people came running to see what was for dinner...sorry, no onions tonight  Before bedtime they had turned a nice light caramel color and I ladled them into jars to cool and store in the fridge.

When you slice them its hard to tell this is a jar of onion.  But it will make the most amazing thing to add to a burger, cold from the fridge.  It makes a great leftover roast sammie, is good in an omelette or quesadilla, and a spoonful of it stirred into beans is great! The cooking time is an estimate - If you want them darker, cook them a little longer; lighter, cook them less.  Eyeball them for color and texture and when they look like what you intend to use them for, stop cooking.  You can't really go wrong if you're an onion lover.  Try 'em and tell me what you think!

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Mealplan Monday #14 with boys return from camp

For some reason, we don't seem to be able to make a dent in the freezer stockpile.  Maybe because the boys were camping...in any case, we still have plenty of food in there, and that ought to make the shopping trip easy this week, too!

Rustown Art

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Monday - Cheese quesadillas, guacamole, pico, black beans
Tuesday - Salmon/chicken (freezer leftovers), mac and cheese, carrots
Wednesday - Brinner: Eggs, monkey biscuits, home fries
Thursday - Pulled pork sammies (freezer item), Queso blanco dip and Fritos
Friday - Freezer leftover Tuscan Chicken, green beans, garlic toast
Saturday - Dad grills
Sunday - Freezer leftover Chicken Rice casserole, salad

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The boys are back from camping and today we get a mountain of clothes cleaned and put away...but for now, sleeping in is the first item on their agenda...

Iced coffee base

When I was a girl, I remember my mother drinking iced coffee in the afternoons.  Mostly on the weekends.  She would make a mason jar of iced coffee before heading off to do errands, and if I was with her, of course I did the same.   She used the leftover coffee from breakfast and added evaporated milk. I was a coffee lover, too, developing a taste for it that has stayed with me.

I usually add creamer to mine now, since that's how I drink my hot coffee, too.  I learned recently that you can cold brew coffee much like you make iced tea.  I purchased some ground espresso beans  and added about 1/3 pound of it to 2 quarts cold water.  Stirred it a bit to get all the grounds water-logged, then covered with plastic wrap and set in the window sill for most of a day.

It smelled pretty good, even for cold, un-brewed coffee.  I stirred it a few times to make the grounds sink.

 

 I let it sit all day, then strained it through cheesecloth and stored it in a glass container in the fridge.

The concentrated coffee makes a pretty decent glass of iced coffee with some Caramel Macchiato creamer. And provided the fuel for some serious sewing...
It's like having Starbucks in my kitchen!

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Window seat pillows

Some of my projects this week were mundane.  But even if they aren't thrilling to read about, they needed to get done, nevertheless.  One was a pad for my fat kitty to lay on.  Normally she lays where ever she wants.  But she loves windows, so I figure I would make her a cozy place to watch squirrels and birds.

 I started with a torn up old towel and a soft fleece remnant
 marked down to $2.25 at Joann's.

 

I folded the towel to the size of a pad I wanted to make, 

marked the boundaries for my enclosure method, stitched it,  

turned it inside out, then slipped the towel in.  

 This will be handy when I want to wash it someday.

 She found it right away and staked her claim.

 "Oh! Almost forgot about FOOD".

 "Can I eat now? What?  I just ate 5 minutes ago?  Fine.  

I will just take a nap."

I also re-purposed a couple of very old cushions that used to live on the couch.  The floral one is covered in outdoor fabric - perfect for a sunny window seat.  If my silly cat didn't love getting into plants, I would have an herb garden here.  Oh, well...

 I think she likes her new cozy spot.

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Summer snack makin'

Last week, I got the boys off the computer and into the kitchen to help make some yummy things for the week:  Rolo Cookies and Taco Snack mix.  Go here to read about the Rolo cookies.  This time we used graham crackers and vanilla wafers.  The snack mix disappeared - good thing I made extra for the freezer.

Taco Snack Mix

4 cups Crispix cereal

4 cups oyster crackers

4 cups cheez-its crackers

4 cups mini pretzels

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 packet taco seasoning mix

1 boy

Preheat the oven to 275 early in the day so you don't swelter in your Texas kitchen! Pour all of the dry ingredients into a large pan.  I use my roaster for such things. If you have some dibs and dabs of other chips, like Fritos, add them in, too!

Give it a stir.

Mix the oil and the taco seasoning packet well.
Drizzle it over the cereal and cracker mix as you stir.

Set your oven timer for 45 minutes, and stir every 15 minutes.
Spread on newspaper or paper towels to cool and drain.
Store in air tight container.

I like taking a big zip loc bags of snack mix with us when we go to the pool or park.  This recipe got a thumbs up here, and it was fun to have the boys in the kitchen!  I am inspired to keep them even more busy...

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