January 31st

Yes! 

It's Hot Chocolate weather.

What a great idea to celebrate!

So, 

in honor of that,

I made a cup for myself.

And, 

I deserve it today!

I've been sipping on it

for a bit so it's almost gone.

It's also 

National Scotch Tape Day.

Why, you ask?

Well so did I.

So, I looked it up...….

Seems that this guy, Richard Drew,

working at 3M, needed something 

to glue newspapers onto cars 

when auto workers were painting them.

They needed them to keep the 

colors from running together.

They had tried all kinds of sticky residue

stuff but when they removed the newspapers,

the sticky stuff remained and pulled 

the paint off as well.

In comes Mr. Drew with his invention.

It was an early masking tape that

was just crepe paper treated with cabinet 

makers glue and glycerin.

But,

it worked!

So, 3M marketed it under the name

"Scotch Tape" in 1925.

(Scotch tape is really an ethnic stereotype.

It is based on the presumption that all 

Scottish people are stingy,

and they'd "adhere" to things longer.)

Wow!

Who knew?

Anyhoo,

 in 1929, Mr. Drew had another idea

to use DuPont's new invention of

Cellophane to make the tape clear,

and the rest is history.

*******************************

The bell pepper plants, tomatoes and

eggplants all have buds.

The problem is that some of the

buds wither and die.

We are hoping that some will still

produce fruit.

Fingers crossed.

Broccoli

We've got 3 colors,

green, yellow and white.

You can even eat the leaves in a salad.

(If the hens don't get to them first!)

Mother Aloe

These are a bunch of babies.

I'll need to split them apart

so they'll grow better.

Just waiting till spring.

One little chrysanthemum.

The bush is covered in buds!

**************************

Pepper

She's standing guard because the cat is near.

The chicken girls barely

tolerate this curious

calico friend.

The girls will chase him and peck

him on the head,

but he keeps coming back.

He's harmless but a little "henpecked"

He's talking to me.

I go "Meow"

and he repeats it.

Our conversations aren't as 

stimulating as the ones the 

hen and I have, but 

it's communication nontheless.

***********************

Recently,

I had to come up with a last minute

dinner option.

So, here's the 

Pizza Roll Bundt.

Start with a bag of Pizza Rolls baked as

per package directions.

They need to be pre-baked because

they'll stay soggy if you don't.

Then keep the oven on 450 and begin layering

the pizza rolls like a lasagna, with cheese or whatever

else is "pizza" compatible in the fridge.

I mean to say that this dish is essentially

one composed of leftovers.

In this particular case, I used a layer

of pizza rolls, then a layer of shredded

cheese - (I had cheddar), then a layer of

leftover artichoke hearts casserole.

 I kept layering till I got to

the top and finished off with another 

layer of cheese.

Bake for about 20-25 min till the cheese is bubbly.

Remove from the oven, cool a bit,

then invert onto a plate.

Simple!

Previously I made it using leftover

meat loaf with the pizza rolls.

It's quick and easy!

The kids can make it and 

everybody loves it.

I usually serve a salad with it.

The grandkids always ask "What's for dessert?"

So, having nothing that qualified,

I came up with this.

It's an apple turnover.

Start with packaged puff pastry,

and cut into rectangles.

Lightly sprinkle both sides with cinnamon sugar. 

Then fill with pie filling, jam, Nutella, 

or make it savory if you want. 

You can fill with pepperoni or small meatballs too.

They are delicious filled with those Philly flavored 

cream cheese concoctions too.

I used the strawberry one with a few sliced strawberries.

They were so tasty!

Make little "purses" and place into

a greased muffin tin.

Brush with an egg wash and

bake as per package directions.

Remove from the muffin tin

and serve with a scoop of ice cream.

Yum!

********************************

It's all about family.....

And in the words of 

The Eagles....

"On a dark desert highway,

Cool Whip in my hair!"

Ha!