Time To Eat Continental Breakfast

A Continental breakfast will contain traditional American breakfast cuisine. Pancakes, eggs and meat are just a few items.  Often you will find cereal, bagels and fruit at continental breakfasts. Hotels that offer continental breakfast include the price of their meal into the price of the room. A hotel often provides a continental breakfast in the lobby or a room near the lobby. The food is typically on a large table or counter. Plates, bowls, forks, spoons and knives are made available. Most offer tables and chairs where guests can sit and eat, or they could take their breakfast back to their rooms or elsewhere.

Normal foods served are:

Breads including  toast, doughnuts, pastries, croissants and rolls. In most places that we have stayed there is a waffle machine where you can make your own my son loves this. Butters, jams, and jellies syrup are readily available as well.

Beverages such as juice, hot beverages and often water, milk and soda are all offered. Hot chocolate might be available for children or for guests who do not drink coffee or tea.

Fruits and cereals are other foods that are available on the continental breakfasts. Bananas, apples, oranges and grapefruits. Cold cereals and milk as well as hot cereals such as instant oatmeal is available.

Some places make cook up eggs or meats. Scrambled eggs are most often served by the side of bacon or sausage lings. Hash browns may be served as well.

Dining at a continental breakfast

There is a normal time period when the food will be served. One of our favorites serve both a evening meal, bedtime snack and continental breakfast all of which is served at certain times. Guests who wait til the end should expect that the supply of some items might be gone. Remember that guest should not take extra large portions as this is considered poor manners. The breakfast is provided to be a quick meal not a full meal that will satisfy an appetite for hours to come

Time To Feed The Birds

With all the spring birds making it back into our neighborhood I can well imagine they will need a headstart getting some food. The one thing we always did when my children was young was to make peanut butter bird feeders. This year my grand children and I will revive that tradition.

resource from gogrowgo

 just 3 things that you will need

toilet paper roll

peanut butter roll

bird seed

start by spreading peanut butter on the toilet paper roll. Do not over pack it just needs enough for feed to stay on all sides. Remember to remove any excess paper

after rolling the toilet paper covered with peanut butter in bird feed. Then it is time to hang it Do this by taking a long piece of string going through the roll itself and hanging to the tree

No where to hang a bird feeder like this then try this

To make these bird feeders you will need some orange cups and a variety of nuts, berries and seeds and grains. Many items can be found in your cupboard. Use whatever a bird or squirrel can make a meal of. You will also need a small package knox gelatin and 1/4 cup of water.

Using a small pot on the stove dissolve the gelatin. Heat til it simmers and the gelatin is dissolved and the mix is clear. Let cool a couple of minutes Mix in bird seed, berries, nuts til all is coated. Spoon the bird seed mix into the orange peel halves and pack to make sure it wont fall out or move.

Florida Treaty

The Florida treaty had a few different names including the Adams - Onis Treaty, the Transcontinental Treaty as well as the Florida Purchase Treaty. While it has many names that come to mind it had one job. The treaty was between the United States and Spain and took place in 1819. Florida would be ceded to the U.S. and the treaty defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. This treaty became very important settling a standing dispute between the two countries of where the border was. 

The treaty took place during war driven time when their was tension between the U.S. and Spain over territorial boundaries. Great Britain would be no help as it was directly after the American Revolution. The Latin American Wars were being fought for Independence as well. Spain actually considered Florida a burden as they could not afford to send settlers or garrisons. The territory would be ceded to the United States to settle disputes along the Spanish Texas. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Have you ever been fishing? Did you catch a fish? If so did you keep it or throw it back? If you haven't been fishing is that something you'd like to try?


I have been fishing a few different times in my life. I have even caught a fish before but I did not remove it from my hook, well shoot I did not even bait my hook. My hubby did both of those things for me and when I was a kid of course the adult in charge did. I believe that we did keep that fish while if they are not big enough we will throw them back. Yes, we do use the fish we keep each year we have a large fish fry.


2. What's something you're always fishing for in your purse, wallet, desk, or kitchen junk drawer?

It seems I am always fishing for something in my purse. From my keys, change and even my credit card something is always in the wrong place. The two things I am always fishing for in my desk are the scissors and my pen. This is because someone is always "borrowing" them. The kitchen junk drawer is no longer then since red0ing my kitchen in January (not there yet) 


3. Your favorite fish tale or movie?

One of the older movies is a fish named Wanda. My grand-kids love Dori and Nemo 


4. Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight or night? Explain why you chose your answer.

You will often find me up before or about time for the sun to rise as I work the early shift. I would not say that is my personality though as I am not in good spirits then. Night leaves me feeling a bit weary eyed and to me night life would be someone who gets it going in the night time. I would say twilight or daylight best fits me as I am awake and going and ready to have fun. 


5. What's the oldest piece of clothing you own and still wear?

I keep my blue jeans and uniforms only leave when they are worn out. So those are two different sides of me but still share one closet and most likely share it the longest


6. We've got one more month of (officially) winter here in the Northern hemisphere. Are you feeling the need for a getaway? What's been the best and worst part of your winter so far?

I am so in the hopes that spring is on its way. We have been tempted with warm days but they never say so much. I plan a get away just as soon as I can, right now company changing hands so have to stay until it is all thought out. We have not had a hard winter here so far 


7.  The Wednesday Hodgepodge lands on National Margarita Day...will you be celebrating? Frozen or on the rocks? Are you a Jimmy Buffett fan? If so, what's your favorite JB tune?


My husband is the margarita drinker around here I would prefer a virgin margarita if I had one. Daughter (26 years old) loves those frozen ones. As far as Jimmy Buffet goes yes I love his songs including this one

The Raw Food Diet ==== What Is It???

The Raw Food Diet maintains the line that you can eat as much as you want with out gaining any weight. I know what you are thinking because it is the same thing I was thinking,,, How can that be???

The Raw Food Diet consists of unprocessed, preferably organic, whole foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, grains, legumes, dried fruit, seaweed, unprocessed organic or natural foods. With two-thirds of all food in the Raw Food Diet should not be heated to room temperature. The food also contains fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet.

Young coconut milk, fresh fruit and vegetables juice and purified water are all part of the Raw Food Diet. The diet deems that fruits and vegetables should be blended to release the nutrients. Drinking fresh juice allows your body to absorb more of the vitamins and minerals than eating the whole fruit and vegetables. 

Those that follow the raw diet believe that cooked food is not good for our health. The way that food is taken in affects weight. The nutrients are often cooked out of food this is a known fact. The nutrition is often transformed by chemical reactions created by carcinogens, mutagens and free radicals. Thus, those that partake in the raw diet believe that cooking foods takes nutrients away and replaces it with poisons that leaves a bad effect on health

The proponents of the Raw Food Diet want you to know that the diet is filled with nutrients and fibers will help with you body metabolism. Not getting enough nutrients leads to a starvation mode that results in storing more fats. The raw food diet allows you to eat as much raw food as you care to this will not allow your body to get hungry or go into starvation mode so your body will not store the fat it thinks it needs.

What Happened to The Woolworth Stores??

The F.W. Woolworth company was one that was a strong brand name when I was a child but disappeared in my teens. Celebrating the 100th birthday in 1979 the Woolworth Company looked very strong and confident about the future. There of course had been a few issues but nothing that was thought to be serious. A Canadian Corporation had tried to take the company over but the thought of good times ahead for the giant company stopped the hostile takeover. But just a few years later the company would be sold off cheaply The next 18 years would see the 5 & 10 vanish from the USA and Canada.

What was it that made this giant of a company that had appeared so strong vanish?? It would be their past history of expansion during the previous decades that would be the cause of their downfall. Woolworth had spent lots of money investing in what was thought to be the next line a new chain called Woolco out of town. The debt from the spending, manufacturing and new styles would assume the enterprise. Woolco would become profitable over time but would never hit its target.

The 1980s would see Woolworth would fight back and to stay alive but the Woolco stores in the USA would be closed while the Canadian stores would survive. The retailer known as Wal-Mart was growing at a rapid pace and would take over where many Woolco stores were moving out of. In the mid 1990s Wal-Mart would take over many of the Canadian Woolco stores as well.

How To Cook a Sweet Potato

One of the first blogs I fell in love with nearly 10 years ago when I started blogging was $5 dinners. If you have never visited you should as she has taken the savings and shared it with everyone. With lots of great recipes and nearly everything you will need to save a bit of money in the kitchen serving your family meals. Today I am borrowing a post from her as I believe she shares the most amazing tips on how to cook a sweet potato in a fashion that she calls "steam baking"

How to Cook a Sweet Potato
Yield – 4 servings

4 Sweet Potatoes
1/2 – 1 cup water (depending on the size of your dish)
Optional: butter, cinnamon, and ginger

Place sweet potatoes into baking dish. Slit each sweet potato with knife.

Add about 1/4 inch of water to the baking dish.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
When each sweet potato is soft, remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before handling.
Squeeze the ends and get the skin to come apart. Skin will be very soft and will come apart from the sweet potato flesh.

Scoop out flesh and mash.
If you like, add a little butter, cinnamon and ginger and mix in.
Mash it up and enjoy!

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cooking and crafting with J&J

He Proved His Love For Us

Romans 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Recently I visited our local discount store and found plenty of Easter merchandise. There was some items related to the religious activity as well. The truth is that we must remember what Easter truly means to us Christians. It was around 2000 years ago that Jesus was preparing to give his life on the cross of Calvary for our sins. Paul shares in this verse that we should recognize that the sinfulness died for us the undeserving it was because of God's deep and pursuing love for us.

We are all born into this world full of sin. We are sinners in need of saving.



 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly We were not only sinners but we were weak, ungodly and not strong or righteous. We were not great candidates for rescuing Because of His great love we were saved from eternal damnation.

Our love is not as great as His. Our love can be fickle, moody and temperamental. God's love is perfect, pursuing and sacrificial. Never passive for he will go to great lengths to show his love for us. It was on the cross that he displayed this great love

May we remember this Easter season not only our sins but the great love that God had for us

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over the moon party

Brioche Honey Pecan Sweet Rolls

• Brioche dough (enough for 2 loaves)
  • 2 packets active dry yeast
  • 1/3 warm to the touch water
  • 1/3 cup warm to the touch whole milk
  • 3.75 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs, room temp
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 sticks (1.5 cups) butter, room temp
• Glaze
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1.5 cups pecans
• Filling
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp butter (room temp)

The first order of business: make the brioche dough. This needs to be done a day ahead of time.

Set your stand mixer up with the dough hook. In the bowl of the stand mixer, add the yeast, water (warm to the touch), and milk (warm to the touch). Add the flour and pulse to dampen. Mix on medium-low for 1-2 minutes and a shaggy mess will be your reward.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, drop the speed to low, and add both the eggs and sugar. Crank the speed up to medium and beat for 3 minutes until a ball forms.

Drop the speed to low and add the room temperature butter in 2 Tbsp sized chunks one at a time, waiting until almost entirely incorporated before adding the next piece. The dough should become very soft, almost like batter. Once done adding butter, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl (roughly 10 minutes).

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover it, and let it rest at room temperature for 40-60 minutes (til roughly doubled in size). Then, degas (e.g. flip the dough over) and transfer to the fridge. Degas once more 2 hours later and leave this covered in the fridge overnight.

On the next day, divide the dough in half. You can set the other half of dough aside (in the fridge) for a loaf of bread or any other purpose (e.g. double batch of sticky buns!). I’ll post another great use of the bread in the coming days.

Meanwhile, let’s finish the sticky buns now that we have brioche dough ready to go.

Prepare the glaze. In a heavy saucepan, add the butter (chopped into 4 pieces), sugar, and honey. Bring these to a boil over medium-low and stir frequently until the sugar is dissolved. Butter a large pan (and yes, walls are required. A cookie sheet would be a bad idea) and pour the glaze in, tilting to spread it out evenly. Toss in the crumbled pecans.

Now, make the filling. This is incredibly simple: mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. The butter should be warm and spreadable, but still solid and not melted down. If its not quite there yet, beat it in a bowl.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to be roughly 16 inches square. Spread the butter as evenly all over the top as you can. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on and cover all but a 1 inch strip on the side furthest from you.

Roll the dough as tightly as you can, forming a cylinder, starting from the side closest to you. Something I didn’t do, but you could: wrap this up in plastic wrap and freeze it for another day (just defrost for a day when you want to use it and make the glaze as you need it)!

Now, gently cut the log into 1 inch segments. You should get 15 or 16 pieces (depends if you’re not nuts about the end piece looking a little ragged. I’m happy to eat it!).

Place the cut segments into your glazed pan with some space between them. Hey–they’re beginning to look like sticky buns!

Let these sit in a moderately warm place (with wax paper lightly pressed on top) for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until doubled in volume. They should be puffy and probably all bunched up on one another.

With the buns ready to go, bake in a 375°F oven for 30 minutes. The glaze will be bubbling along and things should smell pretty darn good.

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Sundays @ Home

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato and Apple Sauce

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato and Apple Sauce

The number of apples and sweet potatoes required will vary, depending on the size of your slow cooker. Just keep the ration at about 2/3 apples and 1/3 sweet potato.

6-8 large apples (I used Honey Crisp), peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1-2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup water

Place the ingredients in a slow cooker, cover and cook on HI for about 3 hours or LOW for 6-8 hours until well softened. Blend with an immersion blender unless you prefer a chunkier texture. Cool and store in the refrigerator or freeze.

Can Food Recipe === Share your favorite can food recipe

March is canned food month. It seems like anything you want to eat can be found in a can. What is your favorite recipe made from canned foods? Would love to have you share them or share a link so I can visit. I am looking forward to seeing what you share Yummy!!! 

Tomato, Corn, Bean and Chile Salad
1 can corn
1 can beans (I prefer black, but this time I went with kidney since I didn’t have any…go figure)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can green chiles
1/2 cup green onions, chopped (if you don’t have any, add 1-2 tsp onion powder)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced (again, if you don’t have it, add a tsp garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon cumin

This is really complicated. Open all the cans, pour contents into a bowl with onions and garlic, and stir. This is even better the next day once the flavors have melded together.
Now that it’s made, here are a few ways I’ve eaten this:
Add to a tortilla and make a burrito
Add to a quesadilla
Serve on top of lettuce for a fiesta salad
Eat with chips like salsa or nachos
Add to pasta
Eat plain :)
Easy peasy. Enjoy!

This is the end results

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full plate thursday

Pizza Pinwheels

 Pizza Pinwheels.

Ingredients:

Pizza Crust
Pepperoni
Ham
Mozarella
Spaghetti Sauce


First stretch out your pizza dough and cover lightly with spaghetti sauce.

Add a light coat of Mozzarella and Pepperoni and Ham.

season with garlic salt and Italian seasonings.

Slowly roll up your pizza.

Mist the pizza with olive oil and added our seasonings.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

If you choose you can slice the pizza dough vertically before rolling This will make two pinwheels that aren't as thick which will allow it to bake more evenly

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Craft Frenzy Friday
Made By you Monday

Sweet and Sour Chicken

8  skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into one-inch pieces
18  Ounces  barbecue sauce
1  can pineapple chunks, undrained
1  green pepper, diced
1  onion, diced
2  garlic cloves, minced
Cooked rice
Directions

Place the chicken pieces in a 5-quart slow cooker. Combine the barbecue sauce, pineapple, green pepper, onion, and garlic. Pour the vegetable mixture over the chicken and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until chicken is tender. Reduce sauce to thicken slightly. Serve the chicken and sauce with rice.

Overnight Breakfast Casserole

Overnight Breakfast Casserole Recipe

8 eggs, beaten with a fork
2 cups milk
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 t. dry mustard
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 small tomato, seeded and diced
1 can mild green chiles (or 1 – 2 fresh roasted green chiles)
8 slices soft bread (white or wheat)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham (or cooked, crumbled sausage)

Mix eggs, milk and seasonings. In a 9 x 9” glass or ceramic baking dish sprayed with cooking spray, layer half the bread slices, vegetables, ham and cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Pour egg mixture over all. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour, or until completely set.

Salute to Mint Chocolate

Credit has been given to the Aztecs and Mayans for using chocolate. Europeans that came to the land later on were not fond of the taste of the dark, bitter bean and they often used it for medicinal purposes. A hot chocolate drink was often mixed with mint, cinnamon and other spices to make it taste better. Later sugar was added and the other flavors would slowly go away but the taste of chocolate and mint was desired.

During the mid 1800s chocolate was being mass produced. Advertisements for mint chocolates or chocolate mints did not start showing up in newspapers until the turn of the century The mint chocolate flavor is still desired and can be found in everything from ice cream to brownies, cookies, candies as well as liquors and sauces.

One of the best known and well loved mint chocolate cookies is the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. The thin mint cookies were first sold in 1953. The popularity of this cookie was instant and has not gone away.

1 c All-purpose flour 
1 c Sugar
1/2 c Butter or margarine,;
-softened 4 Eggs 
1 1/2 c (16 oz can) chocolate syrup 
2 c Confectioners' sugar  
Topping: 1/2 c Butter or margarine; 
-softened 1 tb Water 
1/2 ts (to 3/4 tsp) mint extract
3 dr Green food coloring 
6 tb Butter or margarine

1 c Semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan. In a large mixer bowl, combine first 5 ingredients; beat until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until top springs back when tapped lightly. Cool completely in pan. In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, butter, water, mint extract and food coloring. Beat until smooth. Spread this on cake. Cover and chill. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Pour over chilled cake. Cover and chill at least 1 hour before serving. ----- 

Cheesy Hashbrown Bake with Smoked Sausage

 Cheesy Hashbrown Bake with Smoked Sausage.

So simple. You need:

Smoked sausage

potatoes

sour cream

cheese

First, shred your potatoes and make hashbrowns. 

I used my FAVORITE kitchen gadget, my cheapo Mandolin.

A  very useful tool that will help you get the job done easier and faster 

Slice up your sausage and add a bug dollop of Sour Cream 

and a handful of cheese to your hashbrowns.

Add your favorite seasonings. I used salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. 

Mix thoroughly and spread in greased dish.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. 

I added a little more cheese to the top in the last five minutes of cooking.

and voila...

It does not look that appetizing but it was SO good! 

Captain Crunch French Toast

One of my favorite treats to myself is to head out to breakfast and enjoy french toast from a little local restaraunt called the Barbq barn. It is so very tasty and somehow taste so much different than what I can make at home not to mention that melt in the mouth warm buttery tasting syrup. While this is my favorite treat here is another one that you may find interesting as well. 

4-5 Servings

3/4 cup heavy cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 cups Cap'n Crunch cereal
8-10 slices bread, such as Texas toast or French bread
Butter for cooking

Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups assorted fresh seasonal berries

Mix the cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk until combined.

Put the cereal in a storage bag and use a rolling pin to crush cereal until it resembles cracker meal. Transfer the cereal to a shallow bowl.

Dip a couple slices of the bread into the cream mixture until soft but not completely soaked. Let excess liquid drip from the bread, then press into the cereal crumbs to coat evenly. Place on a sheet pan and repeat with the remaining slices.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat, add butter as needed, and cook the bread until caramelized on both sides, about 6 to 8 minutes total.

For the whipped cream toppin; Beat the cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with a hand mixer to soft peaks. Dollop on top of the French taost and serve with the berries.

recipe resource here

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Weekend Blog Party