What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge~The Salad Edition

Generally, what’s on my plate for both lunch & dinner starts with salad greens in a bowl, followed by a choice of tomatoes and/or seasonal fruit/berries, then a sprinkling of nuts (walnuts, diced almonds, or an unsalted mix of whatever’s available). Sound a little limited? Needs must, Dear Ones! Read on ~

When I was room-renting, I was given 2 half-shelves in the fridge, a bit of a cupboard shelf for some cans, and sometimes some of the door of the freezer. (I learnt how to open that door veeery carefully.) I was quite grateful to have them!

Food-shopping wasn’t much of a problem, but I quickly realized shelf space would be the deciding factor. Over the summer/fall I tried joint meals, but decided over the hols to shift to my own meal-planning.

I started relying on microwavable frozen veggie combos, such as corn/green bean/pea & carrot instead of fresh. They’re frozen microwave-in-the-bag (less prep time) and non-GMO (not genetically modified) veggie combos.

Farmers market produce? Again, only if marketed as organic. Even then I’ve had grower/sellers skirt the issue with the practiced ease of an obfuscating politician.

What’s that you ask? Oh, those pita chips sitting in the back are a real favourite, in the garlic-chive combo. They’re from an international marketing company whose store name starts with “a.”

For a protein source I stick with chicken breast tenderloins or a bit o’ beef, but will tell you about them another time.

With thanks to Deb & Donna for co-hosting this every-first-Monday of the month challenge!

Bye!

PS/Salad dressing? I’d recommend, from that same store, their “aged balsamic,” but I’m partial to balsamic. 😉

wordless wednesday (not really)

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Chiming in with Deb & Donna’s #What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge

Editor’s note: The maaany links in today’s post should all open on separate pages. Should, but they won’t all cooperate & I’ve given up trying to force them. Just wanted you to know, in case you’re expecting them to all do the same thing.

As most frequent readers will know, the recipe above was altered when I made it up — I was looking for a spicy microwave cake recipe that didn’t require an hour’s baking time (in other words, a quick Raisin Spice Cake alternative). You can download it here.

I’ve been giving the above with spice variations a trial run. So far have made it twice, managed to waaay over-spice the first one (hint: 1 teaspoon of ginger, not 2 ), forgot the molasses the second time, but got the spice amount a bit better.

As usual, I only used 1 tablespoon of brown sugar rather than the 3 listed. Have yet to try it with a few raisins, but the chocky variation, which includes chips, came out nicely. So maybe a few raisins will be fine.

As mentioned above, this also chimes in with Deb’s & Donna’s monthly #WhatsOnYourPlateBlogChallenge.

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  James C Brett Marble Chunky Yarn

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  Red Vanna Yarn on right

Acrylic yarns pulled apart to better see their ply.

Above piccies are further research into a yarn substitute for The Habitat Cardi by Make & Do Crew mentioned in a previous post. Thanks to the lovely Lynn (of The Tialys blog) for telling me about the wonderful web site YarnSub.

I adore the colours of the James C Brett Marble Chunky MC07 yarn on the left (see how I made it up here) and know the soft and easily washed yarn well. The way they go from one mixture to another is why I think it might be about the same weight as the sweater calls for.

But I’m tempted by this one as denims would “go” with everything. It’s James C Brett Marble Chunky MC10.

However, on close examination (hence the close-up), all the Brett Marble Chunky is probably 2-ply. But aren’t those strands thicker than the 4-ply of the red Vanna Yarn on the right (which I used yonks ago & still had a bit of)?

I know Vanna is not as soft as Brett’s Marble Chunky. Which might be why I’m not too keen on using any of the specified Lion Brand yarn. Aside from the fact I cannot find any colour I like. 😒

Am also tempted by this Brett Marble Chunky MC02 – the deep, dark blue reminds me of my dark blue stretch denim skirt.

Which would you choose?

Which looks more like denim to you?

Decisions! — Decisions! — Decisions!

🙄