Wild Field Greens, Strawberry & Veggie Burger Patty

Super easy, simple dinner salad.  Looked great, tasted fantastic and was very filling.

Ingredients

• Field leaf greens
• Strawberry
• Tomato 
• Mushroom
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• Veggie burger patty cooked according to package directions

Clean, chop or dice the ingredients and assemble.  Top with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy!

My husband also made these light-and-fluffy mashed potatoes and deeeeelicious broccoli to go with dinner.

Easter Breakfast Idea

Device: Vilify

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Disturbed's  David Draiman's new band (Device)  is releasing a new album April 9, 2013.
Here's a little peek at one of the new songs.

Country Singer Mindy McCready Commits Suicide

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Fox 17 news in Nashville reports that a close family friend has confirmed the death of Mindy McCready due to suicide (Source.).  In January, Mindy's boyfriend, who is the father to her 9 month old son, died.    She reportedly suffered from depression due to personal troubles.



Rest in peace Mindy.

What Luck!

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The Pope's Last Ride

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After getting all of Pope John Paul's luggage loaded into the limo (and he doesn't travel lightly), the driver notices that the Pope is still standing on the curb.

"Excuse me, Your Eminence," says the driver, "Would you please take your seat so we can leave?"

"Well, to tell you the truth," says the Pope, "they never let me drive at the Vatican, and I'd really like to drive today."

"I'm sorry but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! And what if something should happen?" protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning.

"There might be something extra in it for you," says the Pope.

Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Supreme Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 105 mph.

"Please slow down, Your Holiness!!!" pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens. The cop motions for the limo to pull over.

"Oh, dear God, I'm gonna lose my license," moans the driver.

The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio. "I need to talk to the Chief," he says to the dispatcher.

The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going a hundred and five.

"So bust him," said the Chief.

"I don't think we want to do that, he's really important," said the cop.

Chief exclaimed, "All the more reason!"

"No, I mean really important," said the cop.

The Chief then asked, "Who ya got there, the Mayor?"

Cop: "Bigger."

Chief: "Governor?"

Cop: "Bigger."

"Well," said the Chief, "Who is it?"

Cop: "I think it's God!"

Chief: "What makes you think it's God?"

Cop: "He's got the Pope for a limo driver!"

Valentine's Day 2013

I love Valentine's Day.  To get things ready,  I snuck around the house last night while hubby was asleep and decorated the entire house until 2 in the morning (crazy eh?).  Sneaking around carrying a chair to climb on, isn't easy most times and darn near impossible when I was trying to be super quiet.  Anyhow, I hung this smiling heart in front of the kitchen window where I knew hubby would see it when he made his coffee.  I also decorated the patio doors with long strands of clear hard plastic hears and a double heart in the middle that is full of sparkles. 

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 The flower arrangement in this brass vase, was custom created a few years ago.  It's getting redesigned next week, in the meantime, I added a couple of sparkly hearts to it and to the wall behind it to dress it up for the occasion. 

The casual bistro set from outside was brought in during a storm this week and has been used for morning tea and casual dinners.  I decorated it with one of the heart cards created by my friend Nicolette.

The table as it was set last night.  I added the mini roses my husband gave me in the morning.  I found the roses set up along with a teddy bear and a card in our upstairs TV room where I drink my tea everyday.  It was so sweet and exactly what I needed to dress up the table a bit more.

The table setting  I tried a few things and decided on this one.

Valentine's Day Decorating Ideas

Table Setting

I love the look of this table.  Instead of japanese lanterns, I'm going to get round balloons or use the heart shaped ones I already have (if I can remember where I stored them).  For the centrepieces, I'll have to buy flowers (fresh or silk).  I also need to get matching napkins and runner.  I'll put that on my to-do list for this week along with everything else I have to do.  I want it to look perfect.

Place Setting

 I love how this looks.  The red napkin rolled up with a simple twist or bow would look just as nice.  I would love to get red placemats like these ones but I'm running out of time to find them.  Solid red placemat, red napkin, white plates and layers or tablecloths and cream coloured doilies.  I'll post pictures of my place settings after I put it together - we'll see how they compare to this.

Miscellaneous Ideas

I'm not sure how I'm going to incorporate this idea into the decor.  I really wanted a valentine's day tree.  Red and sparkly just like this one but I couldn't find it anywhere.  I'll have to remember to keep looking for this and maybe implement this idea next year.

Very simple and festive table.  I like some of the elements.  Not sure if any of these ideas will make it into the decor this year.  Maybe a valentine banner.  I'll have to wait and see what I end up putting together.

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Drink no wine, that is not thine

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Last nights wine was Berry Seduction from Rush Creek.
It's one of my favourite fruit wines.

 I bought a package of Fred and Friends Wine Lines.  Cute way to distinguish between your glass and someone else's and they're very inexpensive.  As they say, "drink no wine that is not thine".  Here's a couple of links to get your own whimsical wine glass tags.

I bouI

List of Awareness Ribbons

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Pearl White or Clear

Lung Cancer awareness. Originally clear, referencing air and being too-often unnoticed, but evolved to primarily pearl or white for practical reasons. Some sources suggest clear or white as a subset of pearl for long-term-non-smoker/never-smoker lung cancer, but there's no evidence of lung cancer organization support for this distinction. Some lung cancer organizations use different colors or symbols.

White Ribbon

Multiple Hereditary Exostoses
White Ribbon Campaign (what makes a man a man):
Working to end violence against women
The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood: to ensure that pregnancy and childbirth are safe for all women and newborns in every country around the world
The White Ribbon is used to raise awareness for Severe Combined Immune Deficiency Disease (SCID) and SCID Newborn Screening
The White Ribbon is used as symbol of distrust to the official results of elections to the Russian State Duma, held 4 December 2011.

Zebra Print 

Rare Disease awareness
Carcinoid & Neuroendocrine tumor awareness
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome awareness

Yellow Ribbon

Soldier Support
Bone cancer / Osteosarcoma
Giving prisoners a second chance at life
Endometriosis awareness[20]
Craniofacial acceptance (CCAKids.org)
Remembering Black Saturday Bushfire victims
Cory Aquino's Death Suicide Prevention Awareness

Puzzle Ribbon

Autism awareness
Child-to-Child care and development awareness

Cloud Ribbon

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia awareness

Grey & Blue with Blood Drop

Type 1 Diabetes awareness

Blue Ribbon

Transverse Myelitis awareness (Royal Blue Ribbon with the words Transverse Myelitis Awareness)
Child Abuse awareness (Solid Light Blue ribbon- Among certain advocacy organizations, ribbon is sometimes worn as a braided bracelet by survivors of violent physical or sexual child abuse in memory of victims.)
Bullying Awareness (Usually worn as a silicone band in support and memory of victims.)
Von Hippel–Lindau disease awareness (blue)
Tuberous Sclerosis awareness (blue)
Human trafficking and sex slavery awareness (navy blue)
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome awareness
Colon cancer awareness
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Freedom of Speech online
Canada's National Non Smoking Week
Blue Ribbon Coalition: Responsible use of public lands for the benefit of all recreationists
Hydranencephaly awareness
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome awareness
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis awareness
Addiction Recovery awareness
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease) "Unbreakable Spirit" awareness

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Vegan Black Bean Soup

I love this recipe.  
Every week I make a fresh pot of soup that we eat for our lunches.  This is the soup for this week.  Judging by how much is left after today's lunch, we're sure it's not going to last the entire week.  If you give it a try, let us know what you think.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons chilli powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 pinch black pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
4 (15 ounce) cans black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Directions:

1.    Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Saute onion, celery, carrots and garlic for 5  minutes.  Season with chilli powder, cumin and black pepper;  cook for 1 minute.
2.   Stir in vegetable broth, 2 cans of beans and corn.  Bring to a boil.
3.   Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, process remaining 2 cans beans and tomatoes until smooth.  Stir into boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Valentine Kissing Ball

 Materials:
6 inch styrofoam ball
1 can red spray paint
2 dozen silk roses
length red ribbon
hot glue & glue gun  OR regular white glue

Instructions:
Spray paint the styrofoam ball, red
set aside and let dry
cut the stems off the roses to approximately 2 or 2.5 inches.
At the top of the ball, attach the hanging ribbon

Begin attaching the roses to the ball.
Insert the first one in the centre and work your way out and around until it's completely covered to your satisfaction.  You can either glue the roses in place as you insert them or finish putting them in place then carefully remove one at a time, add glue and insert it back in place.



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Source

Valentine Jello Hearts

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Prep time:  20 mins

Total time:  20 mins

Serves: 15

 

Valentines Jello Hearts

Ingredients

• 4 (3oz.) boxes Strawberry Jello
• 2 envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin
• 5½ cups boiling water, divided
• 1 can (14oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
• ½ cup cold Water

Instructions

1. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, add the 4 packages of Strawberry Jello.
3. Mix in 4 cups boiling water and stir for about 2 minutes, or until dissolved.
4. Pour into the prepared pan and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until firm.
5. In a medium bowl add the ½ cup cold water and sprinkle the gelatin over the top, let stand for 1 minute.
6. Stir in 1½ cups boiling water and sweetened condensed milk, mix well and allow to cool.
7. Remove the firm red jello from the fridge and invert onto a cutting board.
8. Re-spray the same 9 x 13 pan with non stick spray.
9. With a heart cookie cutter, cut hearts out of the jello. Take care to cut them as close together as possible to reduce waste.
10. Arrange the hearts in the pan.
11. Pour milk mixture over the hearts and place in the fridge for 2 hours until firm.
12. Remove and cut into squares.

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