Pioneer Woman at Heart

We finally got one evening of rain here.  I'm not sure how much more we'll get from the cucumbers, but they are almost all dead plants at this point. The jalapenos are rolling in, so I have plans to bake us a jalapeno cheddar frittata for breakfast soon.  I also have plans to try a new hummus recipe (Jalapeno-Avocado). I've been trying new tea infusions, and have included some new ones and excluded some we didn't like.  I found that yerba mate iced in the early part of the day is delicous with nothing else in it. Once again, there are locals stealing, cars getting broke into, and in one small town, a person walked through the woods to break into a house.    I have discovered something new!  I can substitute pie pumpkin puree for mashed bananas in a zucchini muffin recipe.  I have only made the recipe a few times, as we lacked the zucchini (squash bugs). I did not know I could swap the pumpkin for the bananas, and I am blown away how good it tastes in t...

  I tired another new salad recipe, but we really liked this as a meal itself to be honest.  We love the summer orzo salad we found last year, but this one is a keeper too.  It contains kidney, cannellini, and garbanzo beans.  I do suggest you make it ahead of time, so the beans have time to absorb delish dressing flavors.  I added the fresh herbs upon serving time to avoid them wilting.  I used about  a slightly less cup of about 1/4th, of red onion, but will add more next time.  Red onion is so potent, it's easy to over due it in a salad. To minimize standing time on my feet (for now anyway), I broke out my new box chopper (bought over a month ago).  I can see why there is a mixed review on these gadgets.  I mean, if you love to cook, slicing and dicing is very thearaputic, but this gadget really sped up the time prepering the salad. The orignial recipe calls for one red and one green bell pepper.  My husband did the shopping, so ...