The moment this posts … at 7:27 on Wednesday morning … Connor and I should be arriving at Sky Harbor International Airport, getting ready to board a plane to LAX. [Read more →]

This salad is so beautiful, full of color and healthy goodness. The glistening arils from pomegranates, the red chewy dried cranberry, the creamy richness of avocado, the crunch and spicy bite of the pepitas – oh my!

I use the one-pound box of greens from Costco, their “half and half” mix, half baby spinach, and half colorful spring mix.

Any lettuce or combination of greens you prefer works just fine. Be sure to use a full pound though, this is a “big” salad! Once the dressing is added to the greens, the salad won’t keep for long, so be sure to wait until the last minute to put it all together.

I use my Candied Spiced Pepitas. These Candied Almonds would be wonderful too.

Quick Tip: This vinaigrette uses sesame seeds. Store sesame seeds in the refrigerator. Those little things go rancid in a hurry if they are stored at room temperature.

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Today is my Aunt Patty’s 60th birthday. Patty is the youngest of eight in the family and my mom is the oldest. My mom was 18 when Patty was born and she married my dad in November of that same year.

We celebrated yesterday with a birthday party at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Silvia’s lovely home. This is the cake that my sister, Sloane, had made at Honey Moon Sweets, for the occasion. The following recipe is one of the two salads I brought. The other salad will be posted tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Patty!

And a very Happy Labor Day to all of you.

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This is “Throwback” Friday Funnies because although these no longer apply to me, those of you with kids at home, young kids especially, will really relate.

And yes, each and every one of these was applicable to me, back in the day!

I hope you enjoy them and be sure and leave me a comment telling me which of these you can relate to either now, or way back when…

My favorite!

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While shopping at Costco recently, I was looking for the mixed bell peppers I usually buy. I stumbled across these cool-looking “sweet pointed red peppers” instead.

They taste exactly like red bell peppers. So, I decided to stuff them for a pretty new twist on your every day stuffed bell peppers.

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I really love stir-fry. When I have a plethora of fresh vegetables on hand, there is nothing I’d rather make.

With a little prep, a nutritious and colorful dinner comes together in a matter of minutes.

More often than not, I don’t even take the time to make rice. None of my family seems to miss it, so why bother?

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Connor is between semesters at school so he is home for a couple of weeks. On Sunday, I asked him to decide what we’d have for dinner and he didn’t hesitate – he requested fajitas.

It’s been ages since I’ve made ’em, so I went all out and cooked up not only traditional beef but also shrimp and chicken. The best part about that… we had plenty of leftover beef and had tacos on Monday night. Yay for leftovers!

Connor and I shopped at Food City for our meal. In our search for skirt steak, we happily stumbled upon flap meat. Flap meat can be difficult or next to impossible to find at standard grocery stores like Safeway, so when I come across it, I can’t help but get a little excited.

Flap meat comes from the bottom sirloin, and although it’s from a similar region as flank steak or skirt steak, it’s a different cut. The flap is not very tender, but it is well-marbled and very flavorful. It’s sometimes called flap steak or bavette and is an excellent meat for carne asada and fajitas.

If you can’t find a flap, use either skirt or flank steak for this recipe.

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I have the most beautiful and bountiful pomegranate tree in my backyard.

I had the tree planted when we did a complete remodel of our yard, five years ago.

It produces bigger and better-looking fruit each year.

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That would be the best Super Power EVER!

Been there. Done that.

I had not thought of this! I need to save more!

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After the July Sweet Salvage sale and in my subsequent “what I bought” post, I promised to show and tell you what I did with the tin molding piece I purchased.

The need for a valance arises from the fact that I can’t stand looking at the nasty metal Venetian blinds in our master bath for another minute.

The problem was – the tin piece was about 10-inches too short to cover the full width of the window. It took over a month, but I finally solved the length issue when I found two square tin ceiling tiles, one for each side of the long piece.

Since this window is in the shower/toilet/tub area of the bathroom, full coverage is needed in the morning and at night, but during the day, I like to pull up the blinds to bring in light and see out onto the backyard.

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