bbq burgers for dinner

 

a delicious breakfast - yogurt, granola, pb and fruit

 

about 66 cookbooks left

 i sorted all the "keeper" cookbooks together, and here they are - 

 that is 17 books, and my running tally in posts was at 19, but i must have donated a couple after they were reviewed.  i also discovered that i had 2 copies of Aces!  I am thinking that one was mine and one was my moms.  So I donated one.

 this is leaving me with approximately 66 cookbooks left to decide if I should keep them or not.  And this does not include all the bread books that the Mister has quietly stolen from me over the years.  He keeps them separate:

 I do still have quite a task ahead of me.  Some days I imagine just donating all of them - the kids are so picky, and who has the time, energy or money for fussy recipes any more?

  Back on the bookshelf - 17 Donated - 64  Still to come - 66

book club 35 - the empress by kristin cast

 2026-35

 

coconut ice cream in the car

 

lunch at my desk - salad with berries and goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette

 

honey-lemon vinaigrette

 

i used to be a creamy dressing gal, but lately i would rather make my own vinaigrette than choose a store bought one.

 as long as you have some lemons or vinegar, oil, maybe a bit of dijon and some seasonings they sky is the limit.  use some sugar, or honey, or maple syrup to sweeten.  add some hot sauce or red pepper flakes for a spicy kick.  add a dash of soy sauce instead of salt.  this one was based on this vinaigrette recipe and turned out so well.  i might have added a bit more honey than called for as well as some granulated garlic.  it was amazing on a simple salad of red lettuce, tomato and cheese.

what i ate - chicken and chocolate

 grilled chicken and peanut sauce with rice, brox and potatos

 more grilled chicken with mac salad and blueberries.  peanut sauce added after the photo was taken.

 chocolate - this was on sale

 these are so good in wraps and salads

 

reading watching listening loving eating

 reading - sobbed my way through when breath becomes air.  heartbreaking.

 

watching - traitors canada season 3

 

listening  - the comfort of crows audiobook

 

loving - strawberry pancakes on the weekends

 

eating- lots of wraps with hummus and veg

 

book club 34 - the noise by james patterson

 2026-34

 

book club 33 - circe by madeline miller

 2026-33

 

the garden

 some herbs

 peas and potatos

 more herbs - mint, oregano, chives, and some plants that the bees love

 we pulled out the rhubarb and planted carrots.  

onion, lettuce, corn, potatoes...

tomatos, blueberries

 

chamomile for the bees

 

strawbs!

 

 

 

lunch at my desk - hummous, crackers, berries, yogurt

 

Happy Canada Day

 

decluttering part 2

 first we have this container i took out of the cupboard to use, opened the top and it promptly broke apart.

 11 old pieces of makeup in the trash - 

 and 12 items gone here - some tops, literal garbage, nail polish, a broken bracelet.

 

the last 8 things for today - a sweater, 3 books, 2 lotion samples, an old craft kit and some empty lip balm bottles 

32 items, plus the 7 books the other post is 39, our new de-cluttering total is 60 items gone!

"Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms." — Alyssa Knight

 

getting rid of a few more cookbooks books 76-81

 part cookbook clean up and part de-clutter - i got rid of 7 cookbooks.

 it's all easy was previously a keeper, so i'll adjust that in the count  below.  i am slowly coming to terms with the fact that i am apparently more of an aesthetic Nigella cookbook person than an actual user of them.  and it hurt to get rid of the well filled tortilla and the trader vics books, but i have owned them for YEARS and never used them, so it was time to go.

 Back on the bookshelf - 19 Donated - 62

beautiful bc - jacko lake

 

book club 32 - audiobook - actress of a certain age by jeff hiller

 2026-32

 

some recent baking i have done

I've been doing some baking recently, and shockingly it has all been well received by the family!  This is something that I have been complaining about for years, that the family (kids) would rather have store bought baking than mine.  But I'm on a small roll right now.  Victory is mine.

The first and biggest win was some lemon bars I made that went so quickly I didn't even get a photo.  And now I can't find the recipe either.  But!  Everyone loved them.

I made these pineapple muffins because we'd opened a can of crushed pineapple for homemade pizza night  and I needed to use up the rest of the can.  These were quite light in flavor but nice and moist.

 These cheese muffins were also a pretty big hit.  I added some garlic powder to them and MMMMM!