And Then....

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Another day has passed and cannot really proclaim that I did any thing too exciting.  Did walk the dog a bit this morning.  Wearing a respirator mask that makes me look all to well like a character from a well known movie line up.  Sound a lot like the character when I talk right now as well.

Started the day with Strawberry/Banana Cinnamon French Toast:

Whipped cream and Quebec Maple Syrup topped these off delightfully.  

Did some house work this afternoon. 

This evening after dinner and before doggie walk I added on Row 3 of my Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt:

TAH DAH!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Friday tomorrow.  Stay safe out there🙏

Kathy

Sunday Funday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Along with house work and get ready for the work week ahead I did mange to get the third row sewed on to my Twisted Star Quilt!!!

After lunch I made some Oatmeal, Chocolate, Banana, Zucchini muffins.  The recipe made 18 so I took some over to my friend and neighbours as she has teenage boys and I do know how that species is ALWAYS hungry!!

Hoping this inspires your own creativity and wishing you the 

BEST Monday EVER!!!

Kathy

In the Kitchen...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

A very long and busy but very productive day at work.  Arriving home I was tired but needed to get dinner ready and not just dinner for this evening but something that will last a for left overs for tomorrow's dinner.

Last week I purchased the MOST amazing eggplant.  This evening I decided that I would make a Ratatouille for dinner using vegetables from the fridge and my home made tomato sauce:

SO YUM!!!!

I paired this side dish along with a ground beef, onions, garlic, red pepper, green pepper, celery, mushroom, and sweet potatoe skillet simmered with the remaining home made tomato sauce:

So good that kiddo ate extra helpings.  

Now that I had left overs taken care of for tomorrow evening I set about getting organized for lunches for two more days of school and work.  Banana bread was my solution to round out the lunch boxes: 

There just might be extra chocolate chips in it too!

While the banana bread was making I made Block 6 of the Jewel Box Block Challenge that A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop is hosting.  "Sew" far this year I am still on track.  Meet Block 6:

 And here are all 6 together:

Now to see what else I can get in to before heading to bed.

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the 

BEST Day EVER Thursday tomorrow.

Kathy

It's Back to Work I Go...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Crazy busy day here in Kathyland again as tomorrow is back to work and school.  Kiddo will get a few breaks with semester break, PD days and non instructional days but for the next three months.....I work.

Did lots of cooking/baking/food prep today:

First up....this awesome salad that I used fresh veggies from the refrigerator to make.  Salad dressing is a recipe that I found in the latest edition of Costco Connection.  All veggies except for the green onion are from Costco.  My friends and family all know my mantra..."If you can't buy it at Costco - do you really need it?"

Then it was on to a batch of Rotten Banana Bread as my brother refers to it.  I will only eat bananas just as the green starts to turn yellow.  Any yellow or brown on the banana means it is "rotten" to me and needs to be made into muffins or bread:

For dinner I made a Shepherd's pie with more veggies from the freezer and a package of lean farm ground beef.  Used sweet potatoes for the topping:

For dessert I made an apple crisp using the frozen apple pie filling that I stashed away in the freezer last fall 🍎:

SOOOOOO Yummy.

In addition to housework, laundry, clearing snow off the deck and walking the doggie I did manage a bit of SEW time:

Blocks 17 & 18 of the Red and White 2017 52 Week Block Challenge hosted by a A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wish you all
the Best Day EVER Monday.

Kathy

Sunday Fun Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Made the BEST of the last day before back to a full week of work starting tomorrow.

For breakfast I made Banana Oatmeal Waffles:

Used up a couple of freezer bananas and a bit of the gigantic bag of oatmeal in the cupboard.  ✅

For lunch I heated up a jar of borscht that I have canned previously:

Delicious!  ✅

While lunch was heating up I made a Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf.  Used up a pint of frozen pumpkin, a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of pumpkin seeds that I had in the cupboard along with oatmeal of course.  ✅

Quite proud of the food that I used up and of course there are left overs for lunch tomorrow.

This afternoon kiddo and dog and I headed out to the creek that we found earlier in the week.  The walk there, along and through the creek and back was 10.56 mi (16.99 kilometers).  I think we shall all sleep well tonight.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" Much Accomplished Today

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Lots of good things done today.

First off I made lunch so that there are left overs for lunches for a few days this week:

Kiddo's favourite lunch; Macaroni and Cheese.

This afternoon I did lots of housework and for can proudly state that as of now ALL housework and laundry is caught up!!!

For dessert I made Banana Zucchini Cake with a boiled brown sugar frosting; seriously delicious:

After dinner I dragged out my sewing machine for a bit and even the iron and made:

A Flock of Geese Block from my scrap stash.  I did drag out the Pfaff 4.2 this evening though as still sore in my core from using the Red Eye Treadle last night.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Let's Purge...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Got up to a nice rainy day with great plans to purge as much of my house as possible.

But.....first I stopped in my craft room.  I have some really cool in there.  "Sew" I got distracted and cut the rest of my 2.5" squares and finished this table topper:

While I was there I found a banana bread recipe that I thought I should try...so I did:

So then it was snack time....

A friend of my posted last night about rhubarb rolls and since I have not had those in years I decided to use up the last of my fresh rhubarb and make these:

Snack time AGAIN!!!  No wonder I don't lose weight or get anything done....

However, by this evening I had managed to clean and purge the bathroom downstairs; half a garbage bag, full blue bag and a partial box to be donated.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Going Banana's....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today I finally went bananas!  Seriously.  There were 6 bananas on the counter looking sadder by the day.  As of 1500 hours this afternoon three were safely sequestered to the freezer and the other were brought forward:

TAH DAH!!!

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Flax Seed Banana Muffins. 

They were delicious and my son was super excited to have fresh muffins as we have been out for a few days now (shhhhhhh).

After dinner, kiddo, dog and myself headed out to the River Valley again; 6.3 miles this evening.  Looks like Spring might actually be here ☺

Of course I need to up the doses and frequency of my puffers but it is SO worth it.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Ho Hum...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Somehow I am not really accomplishing anything on this Spring Break.  Today was another Ho Hum kind of day.  

I did make homemade tomato soup for lunch and now I have 2 quarts in the freezer for lunches another day:

Served with grilled cheese sandwiches it was FABULOUS!  The snow was falling outside again.....so I had an afternoon nap.

After dinner I decided that I actually should be somewhat of an adult and so I made muffins as I might have a friend stopping by tomorrow about morning tea time.  I made banana, coconut, oatmeal, flax seed, ground flax, whole wheat and chocolate chip muffins (I sampled one - they are delicious):

Now to retire with my knitting for a bit and see if I can make some progress on my KAL I started last spring....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Going Banana's...

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends.  Not sure if I will get this post done before morning...😪

It's that time of year.....the week before school starts.

Today was a whole lot of errands and not a lot of crafting.  It was however a great day.  On top of that my friend and I started talking about Banana Bread and I realized that it has been a very long time since there has been any of that in my house.  

Only one way to fix that.  Start baking banana bread at 2230 hours when I work tomorrow morning.  I should confess though that I also had a load of laundry that had to be done so that I had clean capris for tomorrow....

Fresh from the oven and yes I am eating some right now as I write this post 🍌

While the banana bread was baking and the washing machine was going I took a wee bit of time to do some more knitting on my Hudson's Memories socks.  I just love this colour way:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Comfort Food....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

About a week ago a head cold moved in on me.  For the past few days it has been trying to over take me!  I awoke today with a headache, chills and so much nasal pressure my teeth hurt!

I always lose weight when I get sick (at least 5 lbs) so in preparation for that I decided I would at least eat comfort food today so that if this develops further I don't need to find my "after sick" pants.

Breakfast was French Toast with fruit because although it should have been Awful Waffle Sunday that just seemed like too much energy:

YUM!!!

Lunch was pasta and cheese sauce - no not the kind from the box with processed cheese:

Again, YUM!

This afternoon I made a Banana cake with Cream Cheese Icing as my son and I were invited for Roast Beef Dinner at the neighbours:

Although I will not eat fresh bananas except under very green circumstances I do find baked banana things comforting and cream cheese icing is always a plus!

Now to find my heating pad and all the warm quilts I can and hopefully sleep this cold off for tomorrow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Almost....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's ALMOST the weekend!!!   YAY.  

I did agree to pick up a casual shift in a clinic I used to work at tomorrow so although it would normally be my day off I am going to work ☺

Today is the first time in several days that I did anything even remotely creative as with my shoulder skin being ripped last weekend in the "incident" I have not been able to move too much.  Apparently one cannot even knit when the shoulder is hurt.

Thankfully one of my NP colleagues took a look at it on Tuesday and started applying daily dresssings for me and as of this evening it is closed over with VERY delicate skin, but it is closed over and NO infection despite the amount of debris she removed Tuesday and Wednesday.  Almost healed.

This evening since I have to pack lunches tomorrow yet I made banana cake for morning snack:

YUMMY!!!

Now off to bed as I have to be at work much earlier than I am used to tomorrow morning ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I've lost Monday.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Seriously, I LOST Monday.  No idea where it went.

Got home from night shift took a quick nap, and woke up later than I should have.  Made a quick breakfast and lunch for kiddo and out the door to catch the bus.  Got to the bus stop just in time, and waited, and waited and waited.  Finally phoned the bus company and found out the bus was running +25 minutes late.  Hop in the car and off to school.

Fought traffic to school and back and home by 1000 hours.  Lots of time to get things done today.  Well, so far I have still not had a nap, have only got one load of laundry washed and folded and not really anything else.

I did make muffins for lunches this evening:

Also worked on a few rows of my August 2015 Yarn Crush shawl.  This is not a pattern to be done when one is sleep deprived but here is my progress so far.....about 600+ more rows of this and I should be done:

TAH DAH!

Now off to sleep as back to work day shift tomorrow and I already know that I get to pull a double shift on Friday for sure and maybe Thursday } : /

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's In Your Lunch?

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It seems like a really long time since I have baked.  I looked through my blog and realized; IT HAS BEEN.

So, this evening I decided that I should bake some banana muffins for lunches tomorrow.  It is Friday and I have not gone out for groceries in over a week!

\

Today at lunch I took a walk in the park close to the clinic.  It is a really pretty park.  I took this picture of the roses because they just looked pretty:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Someday.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today of course was back to reality; work, breakfast, lunch and dinner preparations, garbage day and house work!!!

  Thankfully I made banana muffins at midnight last night as I found out this morning that we had no bread in the house for sandwiches.  Lunch was banana muffins and cheese along with strawberries and grapes ☺

At lunch today I went for a walk in one of the local parks and the scenery was beautiful with the lilacs and the apple trees in bloom.

After dinner my son and I went for a bike ride over to one of the community gardens where a colleague of mine has planted her garden.

After my son went to bed and all the household chores were completed I made another Churn Dash Block for the Churn Dash Challenge that I am participating in with A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop.  Here is Block 12 (this is week 20):

Here are all 12 that I have completed "sew" far":

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pancake Sunday

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yes, it is late Sunday evening and I am finally posting.  Today was supposed to be a quiet day at home however my brother brought in a load from the oil patch and has to go right back.  I picked him up at the trucking yard and took him to run errands.

Thankfully, I started the day with a nutritious and delicious breakfast of Strawberry Banana Pancakes:

Lots of baking was done today to get ready for the busy week ahead, but right now I have to finish laundry!

Good Night....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Finale. Day 16...

Good Evening Internet Friends.  Today is my final day of Christmas Vacation. 

Now back to work and likely some overtime as there's bound to be a few sick calls this week.  Back to all the extra curricular activities, packing nutritionally balanced lunches and making sure that school uniforms are washed and ready.

On that note, I did some lunch box baking today!  I made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins:

Here's how I made them:

1/2 cup canola oil

2 room temperature eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar - beat together and then add:

1 cup mashed banana

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar - mix together and then add:

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 heaping tbsp ground flax

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips - mix together and pour into 12 muffin cups

Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes.

Delicious!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Where oh Where Have I Been?

NO WHERE!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends.  I am back this evening and will do a post, hopefully can get back to some "normal" soon, where I actually can have the opportunity to be creative on a regular basis.  I make things to keep myself "sane" in this "crazy" world that I occupy.  This was supposed to be a short four day work week after the long hours of last week, yet alas, I sit here tonight with 62 hours of work completed in the last 5 days!!!!

Today has been a busy one after coming off of night shift. We went out for breakfast because I was not sure I could run the waffle iron at that time of day.  Then got groceries and came home to all the mundane tasks of laundry and housework and get ready for my 6 day work week this week!

I did do some baking today and chose to make Banana Bread:

I switched the walnuts the recipe calls for with Chocolate Chips and I used Robin Hood Nutri Flour Blend - Tastes Like White.  Seems to have turned out alright ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Banana Bread

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is rather late, but then again, I am the Red Eye Crafter.

As I stood this evening staring at 4 old banana's on my cupboard before bed I decided I would make banana bread!

Now, this is not just ordinary banana bread, it has Poppy Seeds in it!!!

Very tasty if I do say so myself!

Here is the recipe:

 

Poppy Seed Banana Bread:

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

4 mashed bananas

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon soda

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

 

Mix ingredients together and bake for one hour at 350 F.  Enjoy!

 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy