Saturday, May 17, 2014

Salad-a-Day for a Month Day 17

Happy Saturday!!

 
Today was a busy day, but fabulous.  The weather could not have been better.  Hot weather and South Texas and late May goes hand-in-hand.  But, this past week has been fabulous.  A gift.  It was a little warmer today - high of 86 with low humidity.  I was hoping it would be a tad cooler for the Ironman Texas athletes today. 
 
My husband and I had the honor of keeping two of our precious grandbabies for 8 months a couple of years ago.  Both of their parents are in the military and were deployed at the same time.  They were both babies - 1 1/2 and 4 years old.  I was so scared at first, but it turned out to be one of the best parts of my life.  Not a day goes by that I don't miss those precious babies!  While they were here, I totally splurged and bought myself a fabulous (really nice) spin bike to do indoor cycling.  I love, love spin classes at our local YMCA and had been attending classes several times a week for years.  I knew all of the spin instructors.  Any class they could throw at me, I felt confident that I could keep up - even the dreaded "race day".  Well, when the babies were here, I could not seem to get me and them dressed and us all out of the door and make a spin class.  And, that is why I bought the spin bike.
Lately, I have gotten back into doing spin at home.  I am falling back in love with spin again!  I did an hour ride this morning while watching Food Network (ha ha).  I have managed to spin 3 times this past week.  Watching the Ironman athletes riding around on their road bikes gave me an little inspiration this morning to try a little harder :)
 

Frozen Orange Pecan Salad

Because I worked out so hard, I made a fattening salad for today... It is another "sweet" one (aka - not a real salad...).  But, I burned calories like crazy spinning and working in my garden today (and I didn't eat much of the salad).
I must say, licking the bowl was delightful!!
And, isn't this old blue bowl the best?!  It is another one of my flea market finds.  Love the deep narrow bottom - makes mixing things easy :)
All of the goodness spooned into a glass loaf pan.  I got this glass loaf pan years and years ago. 
When I was right out of high school, I started working at a bank in England, Arkansas.  We would give away promotional gifts for new accounts.  I got a set of glass bakeware when I opened a savings account.  I have faithfully used them for almost 30 years!
Ready to eat - after freezing for 8 hours.
Delicious-ness on my cute new Anthropologie plate.

Frozen Orange-Pecan Salad
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (350 degree oven for 6 minutes)
1 8oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
Beat cream cheese and orange juice at medium speed with mixer until fluffy.  Stir in pecans, and next 3 ingredients.  Beat whipping cream and sugar at high speed until soft peaks form.  Fold sweetened whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. 
Spoon into a buttered 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.  Cover and freeze 8 hours.  Unmold onto serving platter.

 

A Little Gardening on a Pretty Day


Some of my tomatoes have a tomato disease...  But these are doing great!  Isn't the color fabulous?
Baby eggplant - can't wait to make eggplant parmesan!
Cucumbers are coming along - I see sweet pickle relish in my future.
Tomatoes, Eggplant, Zucchini
A little harvesting today.  The squirrels keep digging up my potatoes!!  So, I dug these today from one of the beds in the garden.  I planted beans and okra where these were today.
Aren't the carrots beautiful?  This is my best crop of carrots ever!!  I can't wait to munch on some.  And, bake some with the new potatoes.  I got to share some with my friends, Paula and Eli who rode their bikes over to visit today.  Food tastes better when you share it.
 
I hope your Saturday has been a good one!
Until tomorrow,
~ Joeby
 


No comments:

Post a Comment