A Little Bit of This & That....Recipes Included

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Life here at Muse Cottage over the last month has not been what we have expected. I shared recently the family tragedy we had, then on my health going up and down , life simply just not going quite as we thought it might of expected or liked. Well as life would have it, where I had planned  to be able to share our new fence going up over the weekend, due to a few snags with that process, I shall have to hold off on that post. So today I thought I would share a few close up photos of the posies my hubby planted for me last Thursday and then a couple simple recipes... one I found on Pintrest, and one I just kind of made it up on the fly. So grab that cuppa, your choice, and maybe a snack, my choice is a nice glass of cold water and some "cuties"; and sit back and enjoy. 

First I wanted to share what we had for supper last night. We are getting close to grocery shopping day again, and so even though I plan out all our meals for two weeks at a shot, when it gets close, often I am either not in the mood or we end up having the kids over and so are short a meal ( remember the potato issue from the last post??) , so here we were, Monday before shopping day and well I was so exhausted from the last several days of yard work... did I mention I mowed on Saturday, with a push mower the entire large back yard , side and front too... two weeks of weed growth.. with a push mower... then spent all day with the family working on the fence on Sunday... well I was hurting. So I stood and stared at the fridge... empty other than some condiments, some milk, and a pound of lean ground beef. I then opened the freezer and all that was there was a lot of vegies. Repeat the process with the cabinet... well you get the idea. So what to do? Hmmmm well I did have some instant mashed potatoes and some instant gravy ...hey, with my roller coaster health and my hubbies hours , there are times I don't or can not is more likely make home made, so I make do. Anyway, I decided on a sort of Shepard's Pie. While staring at the cabinet, I saw we had pie filling, and Angel Food Cake mix.. WALA.... we could also have dessert! In two shakes I was in action... music in the background.... 1920's of course.... and a cuppa tea and camera near by.   First I mixed up the cake.

I found this recipe on Pintrest. One box of Angel Food Cake Mix,
and one can of pie filling... there was one with crushed pineapple too...
going to try that one next time.  You simply mix the two together. 

So when you mix the two together , careful now , the mix will
fly up so go slow !!! Fold carefully and well. It will expand... like
magic!  Meanwhile heat oven to 350 degrees, get out a 9x13 glass
baking dish, no grease needed. Once you finish mixing, put it in the
baking dish, bake on the middle rack 28-30 minutes. It will puff
up, and get a deep golden brown. Bake till a knife in the center comes out clean.

While the cake was baking, I washed up the bowl and the spoon, I always clean up my mess as I go. So once that chore was done, I started my supper to be baked later on, but pre-making it while I was in the kitchen , then cleaning up after, will make supper really easy once hubby calls and says he is on his way... and it did! 

Checking on the cake in the oven before moving on.....
Yes, I know, she is not baking a cake *sigh*

Muse Cottage Shepard's Pie 

I gathered from my search, frozen onions, peas, corn, green beans,
a fresh red bell pepper, baby carrots, instant mashed potatoes... any flavor...
 instant brown gravy.. oh and of course lean ground beef that I browned in the microwave and then drained. 

Lookie at this trick... line a measuring cup in foil,
put the beef drippings into the cup and when it
solidifies, just pull the foil up, and seal the top and
toss in the trash.

Ok, back to the "pie" . I put all the vegies that I planned to
use in a large measuring cup, with the fresh carrots and peppers
on top, setting it aside so I could put the packages away. Also,
this lets the vegies thaw a bit. 

I mixed all the vegies, the ground beef, and the now made gravy in a mixing bowl, then I put it in a baking dish that I used butter spray on, meanwhile the mashed potatoes were cooking in the microwave and when they were done, I put the meat and vegie mix in the baking dish, size depends on how much meat and vegies you use.... and then topped it with the mashed potatoes... then I put foil on it, and popped it in the
fridge for later baking. 

Back to the cake.... 

Perfect. A bit oddly colored from the pie filling, and yes, sunken in the middle,
seems to happen every time when baked in a rectangle dish, but it was indeed
tasty and we really enjoyed it. Sticky, sweet, but not too much so , and very easy!

 Ok, back to the "pie" .....

I added a bit of paprika to the top and ran it through with a fork, then baked it at 375 till i saw it start
to bubble and and brown ... it took about 25 minutes ... but it had come strait out of the fridge.
What was great was the carrots and peppers were still crisp, in fact all the vegies stayed nice
and crisp. Hubby said it was very tasty and it was a great way to get him to eat vegies! 

Posie time....

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What??? Well the post title did say it was "this and that" ... When I was outside all day Sunday with hubby, our daughter Angel and her friend Nick, for the whole fence fiasco , I often wondered off ( when that post goes up you will see why) and decided to take photos of my newly planted posies. So thought I would share them with you all. So recipes and posies to me equals this and that!

My new bright yellow watering can that
hubby bought me , next to my pretty
pink Geraniums. 

Our first Calla Lillie opened a bloom on Sunday, I was so excited!

Loves me Loves me not.... Loves.... Daisies! 

A study in pinks and purples... Pin Cushions... some pink flower that
is similar, but forgot the name, and Heather and of course
dual color Sweet Alyssum

Geraniums of a different shade and variety. I plan to add more..
Just love this happy and very easy to grow flower. 

Ready for it's close up.... (Sweet Alyssum) 

This poor Camellia was ignored for some time. We are hoping regular
watering, and soon getting it some food will help make these buds
start to open, a few already have, but a few have fallen off too *sigh* 

Back where we started.. with the pink Geranium

So, that is indeed "This and That" don't you think?? I hope that come next week I shall be able to share the post intended for today...... till then.......

Good Night from Muse Cottage