Sugar-Free Apple Pie

After picking apples, the craving for a homemade apple pie has been strong. It is something my mom and the women from church used to make when I was younger. I try to avoid eating too much sugar so I created a sugar-free apple pie recipe.
 
Link to the recipe on Seekyt
 

This post linked to:

Sweets for a Saturday

A Themed Bakers Sunday

Lilacs

According to Telefora.com, “The story of lilac, according to Greek mythology, begins with a beautiful nymph named Syringa (lilac’s botanical name).  Captivated by her beauty, Pan, the god of the forests and fields, chased Syringa through the forest.  Frightened by Pan’s affections, Syringa escaped him by turning herself into an aromatic bush – the flower we now refer to as lilac.”  They go on to explain, “In the language of flowers, purple lilacs symbolize the first emotions of love, while white lilacs represent youthful innocence.”

I simply love lilacs as they look so pretty and smell so good. It is a shame the season of the lilac bush is so short. They come out in the spring giving us all a little hope of better weather and then they are gone.

 

Post linked to Macro Flower Saturday

Sweet Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

It is once again burger-grilling season, and sweet Hawaiian turkey burgers are worth the extra effort. If your family prefers in their recipe, for sweet Hawaiian burgers; to use ground beef, that is fine, however, it is suggested that you use extra lean burger to reduce the fat content. This recipe is for ground turkey, the non red meat that is much leaner and healthier for you.

Plan on making grilled sweet Hawaiian turkey burgers for your next cook out will surely bring smiles to your friends and family faces.

Ingredients needed to make Sweet Hawaiian Turkey Burgers:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 4 fresh or canned pineapple slices
• 4 buns

SAUCE

• 1/4 cup bbq sauce
• 1/4 cup pineapple preserves or juice
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• Grill
• Charcoals
• Foil

Instructions to make Sweet Hawaiian Turkey Burgers:

1.     Make a nice fire on your BBQ grill.

2.     Mix ground turkey and Worcestershire sauce. Pat out into 4-quarter pound burgers.

3.     Combine sauce ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

4.     Place your ground turkey burgers on the grill, uncovered. This will take 8-10 minutes.
*I like using foil but if you like putting it directly on the grill for the flavor go for it.

5.     While your turkey burgers are cooking brush or dip pineapple slices with sauce and place on grill around your burgers. Grill 4 minutes turning once and brushing with more sauce.
With remaining sauce, brush your turkey burgers after turning over.

6.     To build your Hawaiian turkey burger, put lettuce on each bun, top with burger, then pineapple slice.

Tips:

· Grilled onions are great on your Hawaiian turkey burgers.
· Cheese is always good on Turkey Burgers you can add it if you like.

Carving a Watermelon into a Fish

Cold watermelon is especially good in the summer; however, have you ever thought about carving a watermelon into a fish?  Carving fruit and vegetables into baskets or bowls is a way to add a little sparkle to the festivity.

Although do you know how healthy the watermelon is? According to The Worlds Healthiest Foods, “Watermelon is rich in the B vitamins necessary for energy production. Our food ranking system also qualified watermelon as a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of vitamin B1, magnesium, and potassium. Part of this high ranking was due to the higher nutrient richness of watermelon. Because this food has a higher water content and lower calorie content than many other fruits (a whole cup of watermelon contains only 48 calories), it delivers more nutrients per calorie-an outstanding health benefit!”

OK what are you waiting for, with these step-by-step instructions on carving a watermelon into a fish, you too can make one for your next picnic.

Supplies needed to Carve a Watermelon into a Fish:

 

• Watermelon
• Melon baller
• Paring knives
• Toothpicks

 

Instructions to Carve a Watermelon into a Fish:

 1.     Buy your watermelon, hopefully when it is on sale. I like seedless variety but the seeded watermelons work too. Slice off the bottom (lengthwise) 1/4 inch so it will be stable.

2.     With a melon baller, cut half circles in a rectangle shape on the top of the watermelon. Remove that piece and set it aside. This is what you will use to make the fin and tail.
Scoop out the watermelon. Do not throw it away you will use it to make a fruit salad to fill you watermelon fish.

3.     Cut the tail and fin from the rectangle piece you cut out of the top and set aside. Use sturdy round toothpicks to attach fin and tail to the body of your fish watermelon.

4.     With the melon baller or paring knife, cut out the eyes. Then use the paring knife to cut the mouth. You will do this just as you would a pumpkin when you carve it. Put your knife a couple inches to the side of the stem, angle your cut up and around the stem and then end a couple of inches on the other side of the stem. You want to make it look kind of like a frown. Push out the mouth from the inside just as you do with a pumpkin.

5.     For the side fin cut three cuts with the melon baller, and then make straight cuts with your knife for the top and bottom of the fin.
When you are done, fill your fish with a fruit salad. Now why settle for plain fruit when you can carve a watermelon into a fish.

Merry Lea Environmental Center

The Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College is just what the name implies. It is a 1,189-acre preserve has everything from wetlands, lakeshore, forest, prairies and meadows. You will see many wildflowers, frogs, snakes, tadpoles, birds, trees and so much more. It is bonded with spiritual roots and considers earth a gift form God. The center encourages,  “humans beings to cherish the earth and care for it with integrity, respect and humility.”

The Merry Lea Center is open 365 days a year and is open to the public for no admission fee. There are eight miles of hiking trails that you are able to explore from dusk to dawn. Merry Lea also has special events, which you can find on there website www.goshen.edu/merrylea.

The Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center has a wonderful teaching program for K-12^th grade. Because it is part of Goshen College, the children, teachers and parents will be guided while keeping their ears and eyes wide open while they are exploring. Not all are willing to get their hands dirty while looking for bugs to view, however, just take a  breath of that fresh sweet smelling air and look around. God is so good to use, he provided us with the trees that house the birds of the air, the water that contains ducks, geese and herring.  Mud bogs where you will find toads, frogs and salamanders. While hiking, you will smell and see different plant life and flowers.

Schedule your next family outing to visit Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, located  on Wolf Lake, IN 46796

 

Columbine Flowers

The Columbine flower is a perennial self-sowing flower. Better Homes and Gardens step-by-step gardening basics book has great tips on flowers and encouraging more blooms.

I got this beautiful start from my sister-n-law and it just multiplies every year.
They also come in a variety of colors.

Post linked to Macro Flower Saturday

Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sugar-Free cookies are delicious and important for dieters as well as diabetics.

Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies with sugar-free Hershey’s Chocolate Chips are even better.

Are you a diabetic or are you dieting and watching your weight but need just that little bit of sweetness to get you through the day? Carmen’s recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies will do just that.

Ingredients for Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour; sifted
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• Electric mixer
• ½ cup butter; melted
• Splenda or stevia in the raw
• 1½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp water
• 1 egg
• Wooden spoon
• 6 oz package of Hershey’s sugar-free chocolate chips
• Greased baking sheets

 Instructions to make Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies:

 

1.     Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.     Sift the flour, add the baking soda and salt; set that bowl aside.

3.     Using another mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, splenda, vanilla and water. Mix it until smooth and creamy.

4.     Add in the eggs and beat, slowly adding the flour mixture until it is thoroughly combined.

5.     Stir in with a wooden spoon the Sugar-free chocolate chips.

6.     Grease your baking sheets.

7.     Using a teaspoon, drop the dough onto the baking sheets.

8.     Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Tips and Warning:

• Maltitol, the sugar alcohol that makes the sugar-free chocolate chips sweet comes with a warning label, the Hershey’s package reads, “individuals sensitive To sugar substitutes may experience a laxative effect. Maltitol, a sugar substitute, is a slowly metabolizedcarbohydrate that generally causes only a small rise in bloodglucose level.”
• This is the definition of maltitol by Wikipedia, “Maltitol is a sugar alcohol (a polyol) used as a sugar substitute. It has 75-90% of the sweetness of sucrose (table sugar) and nearly identical properties, except for browning. It is used to replace table sugar because it has fewer calories, does not promote tooth decay, and has a somewhat lesser effect on blood glucose. In chemical terms, maltitol is known as 4-O-α-glucopyranosyl-D-sorbitol. It is known under trade names such as Maltisorb, Maltisweet and Lesys.”
• Sugar-Free cookies will not get golden brown, they will just get hard, do not over bake.

How to Deal with Death by Making a Comfort Pillow

Dealing with death of a loved one, is different for everyone. I did not know about Comfort Pillows. when my dad died, however,  I wished I had. Let me share what I have learned from others that have made comfort pillows after death of their loved one.

2 Timothy 1:10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life.

Read Full Article on Seekyt

Omelet in a Cup Recipe

Omelet in a Cup 

An omelet sounds good this morning for breakfast, that’s no problem. You are going to need two coffee cups, one for the coffee and the other for the omelet in a cup.

Get out the things you want to put in it, it’s all up to you. What do you prefer? Are you simply an egg and cheese person or do you like to add some healthy vegetables to yours? The combinations are endless for your breakfast omelet. The only thing you must have is a couple eggs.

Read more: Omelet in a Cup Recipe

How to Prepare Fresh Asparagus

Fresh Asparagus is great and even better picked fresh from your garden. Springtime in Northern Indiana is the time you’ll see asparagus spears popping up. You will find it in the stores slightly earlier as they have the asparagus flown in. Asparagus has great health benefits but not everyone likes it. To them my advice would be to keep trying it. Asparagus really is good for you and it tastes great.

To Read Full Article

Or Related article on Asparagus

 

Garden Seed Starter

It's time to start garden seeds or herbs for your garden. 
It does not have to be hard it's a simple as child’s play.  
I love herbs; like basil, sage, thyme to use in the kitchen. It is also great to start tomato or cucumber seeds to transplant later in the garden, and it is a great space saving way.
Are you ready to start your seeds? This is a great garden seed starter idea.

Read More On:TopicSpotter

or read: Making Newspaper Planting Cups
 

Eat Healthy and Saving Money

Is your family like mine, you want to eat healthy and yet save money? With the announcement from ehow/demand studio eliminating part of my monthly income, the crunch in this family will be felt harder than ever.

 

Praise Jesus my mom always taught me how to do things the smart way. I hate paying full price and I buy in bulk when on sale. I also learned from mom how to do gardening and food preservation. With the garden season fast approaching my work has just begun, finding a home for my many how to articles, the every day needs in life, pulling weeds, canning, freezing or juicing the fruits and vegetables. But God is good and with him all things are possible.

Philippians 4:13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

ToRead Full Article


linked to Friday Potluck

Cinco De Mayo

Wet Burrito

Cinco De Mayo, in Northern & Central Indiana, will be celebrated in all the Mexican or Tex-Mex Restaurants such as the, Hacienda Restaurant, although, you don't have to be Hispanic to join in the fun and celebration.

Hacienda always has special fun for the week of Cinco De Mayo, however if you can’t make it out to their restaurant, never fear, you can celebrate at home.

According to http://clnet.ucla.edu/cinco.html; "In the United States, the "Batalla de Puebla" came to be known as simply "5 de Mayo" and unfortunately, many people wrongly equate it with Mexican Independence which was on September 16, 1810, nearly a fifty year difference. Over, the years Cinco de Mayo has become very commercialized and many people see this holiday as a time for fun and dance. Oddly enough, Cinco de Mayo has become more of Chicano holiday than a Mexican one. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on a much larger scale here in the United States than it is in Mexico. People of Mexican descent in the United States celebrate this significant day by having parades, mariachi music, folklorico dancing and other types of festive activities"

Start by making a homemade wet burrito with nacho chips and salsa just like you would enjoy if you went out. By making them at home you don’t have to worry about any gluten issues, ingredients you don’t like or busy waiters

If you are 21 or older, you may enjoy a Strawberry Margarita too. They are easy to make and sure are delicious on occasion. 

To blend a margarita from scratch you will need:

• 6 fluid ounces of tequila
• 2 fluid ounces of triple sec
• 8 ounces frozen strawberries
• 4 ounces frozen lime concentrate
• 6 cups of ice

1. Put in the blender tequila, triple sec, strawberries and lime concentrate. Blend until smooth. Put in the ice and turn the blender on the proper position to crush it.
2. Dip the rim of your glass in lime juice and then dip it and cover it with salt.
3. Pour the strawberry margarita in the glass and enjoy.
4. For the children or the child in all of us, buy a piñata and fill it with chocolates, brownies and all the tasty goodies you will enjoy. Take a stick, blindfold the child, spin them around and let them start swinging. Go to the next person and repeat until the piñata has spilled its guts.

Tip:

You can buy a pre-made margarita mix, extra bottle of tequila, and add strawberries and ice.