April 20 2019

Next (Five Minute Friday)

This year, my birthday falls on Easter for the first time during my lifetime. I honestly didn’t think it could be as late as April 21st. I mean I knew it had been on the 20th of April a few times, but it has never fallen on my birthday before. We didn’t believe it so one night we checked and the last time Easter was on April 21st was in 1957! No! I am not quite THAT old!

So, in case you are curious, it is really rare. It only happens 3 or 4 times every century. So this is the first of 4 possible times during my life when my birthday and Easter Sunday will share the same date. The next time it happens, will be in 2030 and given the ages at which my parents passed away, who knows if I will live long enough to witness it in 2041 or 2052.

List of years when Easter is April 21st:
1715, 1726, 1737,
1867, 1878, 1889,
1935, 1946, 1957,
2019, 2030, 2041, 2052,
2109, 2171, 2182, 2193,
2239, 2250, 2261 & 2272
Source: List of Easter Sunday Dates*
*Courtesy: Astronomical Society of South Australia

So, somehow, because of how rare this actually happens, I feel like this birthday should be something special, and I am looking forward to it.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Next
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

April 18 2019

Organizing Recipes and Cookbooks

When the kids were getting ready to go off to college, I thought they might want to have copies of the recipes they had learned to cook during their teen years. I began typing recipes into the computer a few at a time and sorting them within the Word doc so that all the beef recipes were together and the chicken recipes were in another section. I listed the recipes in the table of contents under the correct heading. Someday when I consider it finished, I may add page numbers, but for now, everything is just sorted into the correct section in the order they appear.

I decided that the cookbook I was amassing needed to be printed out and inserted into sheet protectors. I started each new section on a new page so that if I needed to update a section I could just print a new copy and replace the old one. I also decided that each copy needed to be put in a binder and so each one also needed a custom cover to match up with its new owner.

One of the perks of having the recipes I use all the time already typed into the computer is the ease with which I can share them electronically with someone. In fact, if I take something to a pitch-in that I think might be popular, I often email the recipe to myself before leaving home to make it extra easy to share while on the go. All I have to do is forward the email to someone if they want the recipe, or if they want to write it out, I can simply let them copy it from the email on my phone. This saves me having to remember to do it later and they get the recipe right away.

Once in a while, the old ratty recipe card is of historical significance, so I type the recipe AND include a scan of the original so I have both preserved. You may ask why I bother typing it in if I am going to include the scan. Easy, it is searchable that way. I can search my entire computer based on some unique word in the recipe and find it quickly.

The other thing I have done in the past to organize recipes is to buy a Rolodex that uses three by five cards and alphabet tabs. I found that I could use a hole punch and then scissors to make preprinted recipe cards work in this system. Only occasionally was it a problem because it would cut into the type on the bottom of the card. You might be wondering how well that worked for organizing the recipes. Well, what can I say, C is for cookie and cake and cheese and casserole and…let’s just say that sometimes you have to check behind more than one tab to find what you are looking for and often you have to search through all the recipes filed behind a specific tab until you find the one you want.

The is my Rolodex. It is a little cracked on the right front of the lid and as you can see I don’t always punch the cards and don’t always file them back where they belong either. I have a clear acrylic recipe card holder that I put them in while I am using them and then, in theory, file them away when I am finished with them.

I have included scans of two recipe cards from my Rolodex to show you what they look like. The colored card was hand-written by me and punched and cut many years later to make it fit the filing system. I put it behind the white one that came in the Rolodex so you could see how I knew where to punch and cut it and also so you could see the pre-punched cards and what they look like. Feel free to try the recipes too.

I also am guilty of tearing entire pages out of magazines because there was a recipe I wanted to try on it and I was ready to throw the rest of the magazine into the recycling bin. These can easily go in sheet protectors in the binder also, and if you test the recipe and love it you can type it up in the correct section in the cookbook with a proper source citing of course. If you don’t care for it, no problem, just add it to the recycle bin too.

Every so often, I go through the recipes I’ve kept because they sounded good and I wanted to try them and decide that I’ll never actually make it because it contains unusual ingredients or too many ingredients. If you know you won’t make it, just chuck it. No need to let it clutter your recipe filing system.

Do you have a system that works for organizing your recipes?

 

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April 18 2019

Lack (Five Minute Friday)

I have struggled for years with lack. I lack the trim and toned body I’d like. I lack the will power to stick to lifestyle changes needed to get said body. I lack the self-esteem and confidence I have envied in others. I lack the ability to spell that I had back in grade school. I lack patience sometimes. I lack the funds needed to retire anytime soon. I lack adequate sleep most days and I lack a good reason for staying up late most nights. I often lack inspiration when I sit down to write. I lack energy and enthusiasm for serious exercise.

Ok, enough negativity already. Let’s talk about what I don’t lack. I never lack the desire for love and friendship. I never lack an opinion although sometimes I wisely keep it to myself. I don’t lack the constant love of reading and books, or learning in general. I don’t lack curiosity, though again, I don’t always ask the questions I’d like to know the answers to. Most of all, I never lack faith. That is what gets me through all the other times when I am lacking in one thing or another.

What do you lack? How do you deal with that lack in your life? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Lack
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

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April 11 2019

Green Smoothie Recipes

My favorite green smoothie recipe these days is one born of trying to avoid the plague that is always going around work. I have been making this one a few days each week in an attempt to keep Hubby ( and myself) healthy.

Lazy C Green Smoothie
2 cups Orange Juice (with Calcium)
2 cups Spinach
3 cups Mixed Frozen Fruit Blend (peaches, mangoes, pineapple, strawberries)

These were created out of boredom with the recipes I usually use or because I needed to make a smoothie out of whatever was on hand.
I usually try to follow the basic recipe of 2 cups liquid, 2 cups greens and 3 cups fruit (some frozen, preferably). I find this recipe works best if at least one of the cups of fruit is a sweeter fruit such as mango, banana or grapes.

Purple Passions Green Smoothie
2 cups Kale (or Spinach)
2 cups Coconut Water
1/4 cup Beets (roasted)
1 cup Blueberries
1 cup Grapes
1 cup Greek Yogurt (Fat-Free)

Cider-Berry Green Smoothie
1 1/2 cups Apple Cider
2 cups Spinach (or Kale)
3 cups Triple Berry Mix (frozen)
1 Banana

For all of these recipes, measure the liquid in the blender first, then add the greens and blend until smooth. Add fruit and blend again until smooth. Make sure the blender lid is on securely and that the buttons cannot accidentally be pushed while loading in more fruit. Guess how I know this is important?

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I make my blender full of smoothie at night before going to bed and put them in the refrigerator in my favorite Tupperware cups with lids that include a hole for the straw and are practically spill proof. These days I usually split them into two cups, but sometimes I have a little extra smoothie, which I pour into the tall skinny snack-sized zip-top bags. I then stand it up in the refrigerator and pack it into my lunch and drink it at work by simply opening the zipper just enough to insert a straw and then sealing it as much as I can around the straw. This works great because these bags are made of thicker plastic closer to a freezer bag than the storage bags. If there is a lot left over, I just split them into 3 cups instead of two.

I learned all about how to make green smoothies in 2014 on SimpleGreenSmoothies.com.
I participated in many of their 30-day Green Smoothie challenges and made a binder with all the recipes from those challenges. I also bought their book, Simple Green Smoothies, and use it regularly.

Category: Recipes | Comments Off on Green Smoothie Recipes
April 9 2019

Offer (Five Minute Friday)

What do I have to offer? I have the wisdom that comes with fifty plus years of experience. I have a few tried and true recipes. I have raised two terrific kids who are both past the quarter-century mark now, and NO, that doesn’t make me feel old. I have my opinions. I have the ability to learn new things, and relatively quickly, too, I might add. I have the ability to write about the things I have learned and share them with the younger generation right here on this blog. Not that I really think they will bother to read what I have written, but if nothing else, anything posted on the internet begins to live a life of its own. Perhaps through that life that my words live on the internet, perhaps I can make a difference in this world, if not today, then someday. Perhaps someday when I have gone on to my heavenly reward, and my kids find themselves missing me and wondering what Mom would do or say, they will also remember that I was always posting on that little blog of mine, and search for the link I sent them in an email once. That link that they always meant to follow and read if for no other reason than to see what I might have written about them and whether they should be mortified or not.

In reality, my words might well disappear after I am no longer around to renew the domain registration and pay for the hosting. But for now, I offer the words I write to the world at large in hopes that they can make a difference in at least one person’s life with each post I write, for that alone would make life worth living and writing worth writing now wouldn’t it? The little experiment I started on a whim one weekend when Hubby was out of town and nobody was around to tell me I shouldn’t or couldn’t or dare me by saying I wouldn’t. I guess I’ve written enough by now to have proven them wrong anyway. Who knew I had so much to say?

This little blog didn’t take off quite like I hoped it would, but then perhaps I could have put a lot more effort into publicizing it. Sometimes, the only way I have the nerve to post a particular piece is by telling myself that almost nobody reads the posts anyway and the few that do won’t likely get to the end of my lengthy posts and they won’t make the effort to post if they do, so I write what moves me and post it hoping it will reach the one person who really needed to read what that particular post had to offer to the world.

If you read my posts, please do me the great favor of letting me know. You needn’t leave a comment, just shoot me an email or use the contact form and it will just get seen by little old me and brighten my day. If I have reached you with just the right message on this particular day, I am pleased. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Offer
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

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