Berbere, Michigan Part I and a New Puppy

Hi, I am back! From our visit to Michigan and  back to school getting ready for the kids on Monday! 

Before I left for my trip I blended some more spice mixtures. Here I tried berbere, it's an Ethiopian spice blend that every family has there own recipe, and it's used in many dishes like their stew and for meats and such.

While I was off for the summer I was able to organize most of my spices and label the stainless steel tins that I like to use, and fill them with fresh spices. This made it easier to gather all the spices that I needed for the blends. I am actually happy to cross at least one thing from my long list that I wanted to get done over the summer.

First you toast the whole spices that you have like cardamom pods, allspice berries, peppercorn, cumin, cloves, chilies, coriander, fenugreek seeds (I didn't have the seeds just powder).

• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 12 cardamom pods
• 2 dried de arbol chilies stemmed and deseeded (you can do this to taste)
• 1 teaspoon or 6 whole allspice berries

Lightly toast the seeds in a tiny skillet and let cool before grinding them. Remove the shells from the cardamom pods, and if you don't like it too spicy remove the seeds from the chilies. Grind them all together in a spice grinder and add to the remaining powdered spices.

• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt

Mix together well and store in an air tight container.

I used berbere in my meatballs and I really enjoyed this flavor...even in my lunch the next day! Use it on eggs, in soups and stews and to season roasts, and I'm sure it would go well on veggies too!


A few vacation photos.

Sharing a little of my Michigan trip. Here we are in Grand Haven, Michigan  on the west coast right on Lake Michigan. W

Shopping Dog and a Turkey Casserole (tetrazzini)

Tucker loves to go to the pet store! He is so excited when we reach the parking lot he can't wait to jump out of the car. At his age(14 1/2) ..we just can't leave him home, although we choose his dog food for him. We get him a potato duck blend that is for dogs with allergies. Sheesh! wouldn't you know it's our dog that has a food allergy!

When he was younger it was always fun to watch him run in place on the slippery floors of the store. He's slowed down a bit, but he still...

...has to check everything out!

I wonder...if he eats something that is displayed on his level....do we have to pay for it?
He does make sure that they don't forget his doggie treat during checkout!
I've added this to Camera Critters visit and check out more cute and interesting critters.

Now on to the food!

I know this is a little late for Thanksgiving leftovers, but Christmas is just around the corner and some of you will have turkey for that as well.

I guess this is a little like Turkey Tetrazzini, but I didn't have any spaghetti noodles so I used mini penne instead. That's the nice things about casseroles, you can use what you have and what you like!

I topped mine with cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan and bread crumbs.

I had some celery to use up so I added that, and I always like shallots instead of onions.

Ingredients
8 oz Mezze Penne
1 stalk celery chopped
1 shallot chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups chopped cooked turkey
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained (I used shitake)
1 cup peas
1 tsp tarragon
1 tsp dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
salt to taste

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking dish.
2.Cook pasta for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, and place in the prepared baking dish.
3.In a touch of olive oil saute shallots and celery until tender.
4.Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour . Mix in chicken broth and milk. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir in about 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and remove from heat.
5.Mix everything... broth mixture, turkey, seasoning, celery, shallots, mushrooms...with pasta. Top with remaining cheese. Bake 20 - 30 minutes, until surface is bubbly or lightly browned.

You can make it as soupy or thick as you like it. You can top it with the parm and bread crumbs instead...any way you like it...as long as the kids will eat it! My daughter had two helpings, but she picked out the mushrooms.

A Few Fun things on Friday

Happy Friday! I had a little time so I thought I would play with some of my gadgets that I have. I am going to try out my egg molds! I got a set from Ann at Anncoo's Hobby and Wendy from Wendolonia. I have already tried and used my picks and rice molds, and they work great and Maranda loves the rice balls anytime, for lunch or snacks!

For the rice balls in this bento I used a rice and grain blend, that I got the idea from Sheri at Happy Little Bento. She had some red rice and white rice mixed with a few other grains. So when I found some red rice I decided to try it, especially since I've been buying several new rice and grains to try. We had this for dinner and I used the leftover for the rice balls. I really liked it, but Wade thought it needed a little more flavor...okay that's easy enough to do.

Back to the egg mold. One set was all in Japanese and I can't read that yet. The other had instructions in English too. I also checked the great directions that Maki had on her Just Hungry

blog, she also has a Just Bento blog that has a wealth of information if you want to start making bento box lunches.

First thing is to boil and peel the eggs. I hate peeling fresh eggs, they are so hard to peel! Ack!

Then place the warm peeled egg in the mold. (it looks all beat up) I placed it in warm water right before using the mold.

Okay... now I used a large egg in a large mold. I think I need an extra large egg here. These molds should work well for rice balls too, which is what Maranda wanted to use them for. Looks like this one will become egg salad!

The next mold is marked large too...but this was from the other set. A much nicer looking egg.

Close the lid and snap it shut, and put it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.

Ta-Da!! This one worked! That was fun!

I had these cookie cutters that will also leave and impression. I found that Pubix brand wheat bread is soft enough to use for this. Usually you would have to use white bread, so this was nice.

I found this little boiled egg holder. They had a sheep too, but we don't always sit down and eat boiled eggs much so I just got one for photos. It did remind me of my childhood when we use to use egg holders.

Martha from Seaside Simplicity had once said that using ice cube trays are a good way to keep extra lemon, and key lime juice. I ran across these (on clearance of course $2). This will be perfect when our lemon tree has all those lemons I don't want to go to want it to go to waste. Also you won't have this happen to you when you get it mixed up with something else!

Then I picked up these handy storage trays half off at Michael's that work great for my food picks. The other one was for my baran (food dividers).

Best of all it fits perfect in the tiny drawer that I have for my lunch making supplies.
Ho hum...too much for you?

I think that's enough busy work for these lazy days of summer.

Tucker's Birthday Outing at the Beach!

Tucker turned 14 years old on Monday May 10. and since he has a lot of allergies we really don't feed him any people food. So instead of cake, we took him to the dog beach, which is just south of Sharky's in Venice, Florida. It's a nice 20 minute drive, and as always Tucker enjoyed the ride as much as the destination!

Hey over here! He wasn't having any easy time walking in the loose sand. I think he wanted to go up into the trails behind him.

Are you sure it's okay? He still has to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be, it's a herding dog thing.

Whew, he made it over the soft sand, it's a little easier on the wet sand at the water's edge.

He always did just like watching everything.

We had several wet dogs come up and say "hi" and then they were one their way.

When he was younger we couldn't keep him out of the water. For an Australian Shepherd he loves swimming, and being in the water.

He even ran a little. He does look happy!

Still watching and enjoying.

We waited until evening so it would be a little cooler for him, it was near 90F today. At the shore there was a slight breeze and it was very pleasant.

Okay I've had enough...time to go home.

It wore him out...of course the beach always did. I think next year we'll just throw him a party at home, and give him anything he wants! Happy Birthday Tucker!

Spring Flower Bento

Okay, so here it goes, my first "Bento" post. I did make this over the weekend, it it easier to get a nicer photo when it's light out. If I take a picture in the morning after I make their lunches it's still dark out. So playing around a little to see how to photograph bentos. I need a little more practice. But I am learning so much from all my "bento" buddies! Thanks ladies!

This is probably as "cutsie" as Maranda would let me get(for now). I got a set of six flower cookie cutters that range smaller to bigger. The watermelon radish is the smallest. I tried to cut the pickled daikon radish in a small circle for the flower center, but just could find anything to do it with.
Under the radish flowers is some steamed rice with furikake sprinkled on it. To the right of that are fried spam and cucumber flowers, broccoli could of been placed a little better. Strawberries and red grapes with the only small pick I have (for now). Baby carrots with circles (flower buds) of daikon radish (the smallest circle I could do for now).

It is so hard to get much bento anything around here. I got the idea to use this from Target thanks to Debra of hapa bento. I got a blue one for Maranda but it's all blue, then I saw this multi color one and I couldn't resist. Just leave the spoon out and it works well. So there you have it. Thanks for looking!

I just had to share this long overdue bathtime. Talk about the Monday blues! Could he look any more miserable or sad?

The rest of the Banana

I was out trying to get a good photograph of my Bird Of Paradise. When I was walking out back I notice these on the ground:

Oh yes, I knew what those were. Banana blossoms. So I looked up at this very tall banana tree...

and sure enough a banana bud!

It starts out as the purple bud, then the outer part curls back and falls off, and the blossoms are actually the tips of each banana.

They are getting bigger. the purple bud is at the bottom of the photo.

A different angle.

The first photo was taken in July. Wade kept asking when we should pick the bananas. I thought when the top one just start to turn yellow. But then we didn't want them to turn bad before we could harvest them. It's so hard to notice them being up so high. So we really had to make a point to go check on them once in awhile. Well the tree was starting to lean, and it was getting a little cooler out. Once the bananas are done the tree dies and you have to cut it down. We thought we might as well pick them while we had the taller ladder and before we lost them.

So Sunday that's what we did...errr...Wade did. He's on the top step of the ladder.

Here's the whole bunch! There are several new trees that are already quite tall that will replace the old one.

Here's the tail that broke off when he cut the bunch loose. In a perfect world or climate that would be full of fruit.

Tucker is always so helpful in the yard!

He does love those logs!

Finally the tree banana less!

I might have to bring some north with us when we go for Christmas. Or make tons of banana bread!