Category Archives: Uncategorized

My husband and I celebrated our 27th anniversary this weekend by spending it at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, TN. It is about 1 1/2 hours from our house. It is one of the most popular state parks in TN and we were pleasantly surprised when we were able to rent a cabinContinue reading “Pandemic Physical Fitness–Fall Creek Falls”

My husband LOVES Chili Mac–especially if we are working hard out in the yard on one of his HORRIBLE projects. When I make it, I make a huge batch and put most of it in the freezer. Here’s the recipe: Cathy’s Hot Dog Chili 5 lbs lean hamburger (you can substitute some ground turkey ifContinue reading “Hot Dog Chili (or for Chili Mac or Nachos)”

We just had a late season cold snap and heavy frost, like much of the rest of the country. Fortunately, we didn’t have any snow or other precipitation like other areas, and it only got down to 29–many plants can tolerate temperatures down to 28, even though they don’t like it that cold. So, lastContinue reading “Garden Challenge–late season frost”

8 cups spring mix lettuce Quart of strawberries washed, capped, and sliced 4 oz of feta, crumbled 1 cup Sliced Honey Roasted Almonds 1 lb. grilled chicken 1/2 cup sliced green onion, if desired Put the lettuce, then strawberries, then feta in a large salad bowl. Honey Mustard Vinaigrette 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2Continue reading “Strawberry-Feta Salad with a Honey Mustard Vinaigrette”

My family LOVES Shrimp and Grits. I love it because I can get it almost completely put together early in the day, or even the day before, and then at the last minute just heat the sauce and add the shrimp and voila–done! The Shrimp (Serves 8) 1 lb bulk smoked pork sausage (Benton’s HamsContinue reading “Hurray for Shrimp and Grits!”

We used to have 5 bikes, and they took up a huge amount of floor space. I looked for a solution that would allow us to hang them up and take up as little space as possible, but still be able to get the bikes down easily when we needed them. I found Steady Rack.Continue reading “Storage Solution–for a couple of difficult to store items”

We have a bridal shower coming up and the items I ordered for it came in this week. It’s a casual shower and as I was looking through my wrapping paper, I found a colorful polka dot printed paper. (I didn’t really want to do a typical bridal paper, which is good because I don’tContinue reading “A Gift with a Lovely Garnish”

Roasted New Potato Salad 1 1/2 lb whole tiny new potatoes, quartered 3 tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 4 tsp snipped fresh rosemary 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 6 oz Kalamata olives–roughly chopped (with a tablespoon or two of the brine) 1 large yellow bell pepper cut into 1/2″ pieces 12 grapeContinue reading “One of my favorite salads–Roasted Potato Salad”

My dahlias are finally emerging from their winter’s nap. The varieties that I have planted get really tall and gangly and require support. These are the grow through heads and 36″ legs that I bought from Kinsman Garden. If you have peonies, or other plants that tend to flop over, check out Kinsman Garden–they haveContinue reading “Cutting Garden–Update”

I bought some tiny romaine and red leaf lettuce plants about 3 weeks ago. They are doing great. Lettuce is easy and fast to grow. I highly recommend giving it a try if you haven’t before. Do watch for slugs–they will devastate your lettuce crop if they get a foothold. The Harvest: My husband wantsContinue reading “Salad Days”