New Appliances And A Banana Zucchini Muffin Recipe

My refrigerator was on it's last leg. The freezer didn't want to defrost and the seal around the fridge was coming off. It was still working, but was probably using a ton of energy. When we went on vacation Hubby fell in love with their side-by-side fridge. Our fridge was the freezer on top variety and we could never find anything in it. It was rather surprising the amount of food I threw away when cleaning that fridge out for the final time. There was 3 year old deer meat, shrimp from who knows when and fish we caught a year ago!

Now, not only is everything fresh, but it's organized... and even better, we can see what we have. With so many shelves, nothing should get shoved to place that it isn't seen for years.

Oh, did I mention it's stainless? Love it! I looked at a lot of refrigerators before I decided I liked this finish the best. I didn't realize how many were faux or a stainless that was horrible about showing fingerprints. This one is real stainless, but brushed fairly well so it doesn't show smudges every time you get in it.

And as for my range, of course it's self-cleaning! I don't manually clean ovens. It also has a flat top. (ceramic) Easy to clean, I just hope nothing get dropped on it and breaks it.

The oven is digital, and the timer works - something that broke on my other oven years ago!

(Ignore the space over the stove --- hubby still has to install the hood fan!)

I couldn't wait to use everything. So I loaded up the fridge and freezer and made dinner on the stove-top and decided to bake something for desert. I had found a Ziploc bag of shredded zucchini in the freezer when I emptied it out and a frozen banana, (Hubby hates that I freeze bananas! They turn black and look nasty, even though they are perfect to use in baking.) and wondered if there was something I could make that would use them both up.

I turned to the Net and searched for zucchini banana bread and then scanned the results for blogs. I like to try recipes that other bloggers recommend - they've been tried and approved by real people, so, in my experience they are generally quite tasty!

I read through a few different recipes before stumbling upon one that not only did I have all the ingredients for, those ingredients sounded like they'd mix up well together. I decided to go with a recipe from What's For Supper Tonight?

The recipe might have sounded good on paper, but it was even better than I had ever imagined it would be! Honestly, these muffins were so good that I might even enter them in the fair year! I'm warning you - these muffins are so good, you might want to eat them all, like I did. I hate to be the cause of you needing diet supplements, but I just have to share the recipe with you anyway. Warning: make them at your own risk!

Ingredients
2 c. grated zucchini
1 c. mashed bananas
3 eggs
1/3 c. sour cream
1 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
½ c. vegetable oil
3 c. flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
1½ tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1½ tsp. vanilla
1½ c. raisins, optional
(I also used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon that wasn't in the original recipe as a topping.)

Directions
Shred the zucchini and mash the bananas and set them aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, salt, sugar and oil.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
Stir flour mixture into egg mixture.
Add vanilla and stir.
Add zucchini, bananas and raisins and stir until combined well.

For bread: pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans and bake in 350 degree oven for 45-55 minutes.

For muffins: grease muffin pan, fill muffin cups 2/3 full of batter and bake in 350 oven for 20-22 minutes.

To put a topping on your muffins (which DS said made them too sweet, so do so at your discretion.) Melt 1/4 butter in a small bowl, in another small bowl mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon. Now pick up one muffin and dip the top of it in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Enjoy them hot -- they are the best that way! (imo)

Never Ask A Drunk - Joke For Blog Hop Tuesday

This week's Blog Hop theme is "TIME TO LAUGH". Post your favorite joke, cartoon, funny picture or video. We all need a good laugh sometimes, what a great way to start the week. Here's mine:

Never Ask A Drunk

I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:
A half-gallon of 2% milk
A carton of eggs
A quart of orange juice
A head of lettuce
A 2 lb. can of coffee
A 1 lb. package of bacon

As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated, ''You must be single.''

I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since I was indeed single. I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I said: ''Well, you know what, you're absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?''
>
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The drunk replied, ''Cause you're ugly.''

That New Love Feeling, What Happened To My Thighs And More For Friday Fill-Ins

It's Friday!! That means another edition of Friday Fill-Ins. You'll get to learn a little more about me today. Hope it's not more than you cared to know! (My answers are in red.)

1. I remember, I remember that feeling get when you're newly dating... when it's thrilling just to hold hands. The best feeling ever! On the flip side, I also remember that horrible feeling right before you throw up... the worst feeling ever!!

2. Dear Son, I want you to know how much I totally love you and how proud I am of the man you're becoming.

3. Is that my thighs!??? What happened to them? They didn't use to be that big or have all those dimples in them!

4. I'm trying to resist the temptation of eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

5. I'm saving a life insurance no exam policy just for you! (Right!)

6. If I made a birthday list my family would definitely be on it!!!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to the NASCAR Busch Series race! tomorrow my plans include the Sprint Cup race and sightseeing at the track and Sunday, I want to go home!

Easy Pepper Steak (or Chicken) - Blog Hop Recipe

My friend gave me this recipe. She makes this a lot with venison, but it also works well with any inexpensive steak or chicken.

Ingredients

2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
dash pepper
16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 large onion thinly sliced
2 thinly sliced green and/or red peppers
2 Tbs. corn starch
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1.5 lbs. thinly sliced beef, venison or chicken
3 cups cooked rice

Directions

In the oil brown the meat till no longer pink. Add the onion and cook a few minutes till onion is soft. Add water and bouillon cubes, salt and pepper and cook just a couple minutes till the bouillon cubes fully dissolve. Add tomatoes and green peppers cook 10 minutes on medium heat.

In a small bowl or cup mix cornstarch with soy sauce, add mixture to meat and peppers and bring to a boil to thicken.

Serve over rice.

Satellite, Cable Or An Off-Air Signal?

Where we live, (in the holler) up until a few months ago, we didn't really have much of a choice when it came to TV programming. It was either Direct TV or Dish Network. Yep, that was it. We tried an off-air antenna, but when you're down in a valley, only one or two channels will come in and they were pretty much covered with snow. So, we made the choice to go with Directv.

We've been with them now for more than 10 years, and I couldn't be happier. (OK, I could be happier if they would give it to me free - but since that isn't going to happen, I'm pretty happy.)

But now, here in the country, we have a new choice to add to the list. Cable has come through, and to be honest their bundled package looks like a great deal. However, I've been doing some comparisons and my Direct TV package is still less expensive and an all-around better deal.

For one thing, we are a multi-TV family. No, not 2, or 3, but we actually have 4. Which means 4 receivers. And, three of them are dual receivers. (Which means in theory, I could record 6 shows at one time. Two on each receiver - that's a lot of TV to watch!)

Additionally, Direct TV offers a couple things that cable doesn't. One is the NFL Sunday Ticket, something my son and hubby love - even if I just don't get it. And, they also offer free moving. So whether you are going to need Direct TV in Texas or Topeka, you just leave your dish at your old house and they will set up your new one so you won't have to miss an episode of Grey's Anatomy. (Oh, sorry, that might just be me!)

Queen Of My Double Wide Trailer For Music Monday

I have no idea why this song popped into my head today... but it always makes me laugh, so I decided to make it my Music Monday post so you could laugh too!

Sammy Kershaw - Queen Of My Double Wide Trailer
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - See the latest featured music videos.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.



PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Beginners 'How To' To Getting Traffic

I frequent a few blogger's forums and one of the most common questions I see is, 'how do I get traffic?' It's one thing to create a beautiful template (which as you can tell, I'm messing with mine again. My sister redesigned my header... now I need to find a background I'm happy with to go with it.) sit down and pour out your heart, and then sit back and hope somebody wants to read it. Well, they never will if they can't find you.

Here are a few tips that I have found to getting more traffic to my blogs. These are just my personal opinions and experiences talking, no real scientific research was done for this post. And this is just a quick overview of the first steps I take with a new blog. There is much more to learn, but this will help you get started.

You've heard the adage content is king. I've found that's definitely true with blogging. If you want the search engines to find you, you must have content - two or three posts won't get it. Quantity is as important as quality at first. (It's not as important as time goes by, but the more you post in the first few months the more traffic you will see.) And search engines love for you to update. Each post is considered an update and alerts the search engines to come look at your site.

You may want to help the process along by submitting your new blog to the search engines. Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Bing are the major ones that will eventually find your site, but your submitting them will only help speed things along.

Next, I usually like to add my blog to Technorati, Blog Catalog and My Blog Log. In addition, there are many other web directory sites you might want to add your URL to, but it's very seldom that I would pay a site. With very little effort, and a little time you can add them yourself.

Finally, promote, promote, promote. How? Commenting on other blogs is probably the best way not only to get backlinks, but to get the owner of that blog to come visit yours. I always visit the blog of someone who posts here, and usually try to comment in kind.

Start a blogroll of like niche blogs. You may want to email the owner of the site you are blogrolling, just let them know you love your blog and are adding it to your blogroll. They may reciprocate which will give you another backlink, something the search engines are looking for!

Another easy way to get backlinks is to join forums and put your blog URL in your signature. WAHM.com and the Mom Bloggers Club are two of my favorites, but there are hundreds out there, you may have your own favorites.

Join Twitter and set up your Twitterfeed so that your blog updates are automatically broadcast to all your followers.

And finally, let everyone you email know about your blog by placing the link in your email signature line. You'd be surprised how many people your emails get forwarded to and some of them might even find you interesting!

Favorite Photos - Blog Hop Tuesday

I love photography so for me to choose just one photo is impossible! I have even devoted an entire blog to my photos, just because I have so many I like. That said, here are few that I quickly picked for the blog hop this week. Of course, they all involve the ocean/beach... because I love it so!!

My son and his friends (and their dog) trying to catch something as the sun starts to set on the ocean...

I fell in love with this dead tree on the beach and made everyone wait on me while I got this photo.



A great day! I'd never seen so many shells in one place before!

shells on the beach, originally uploaded by amh615

No Risk Online Shoe Shopping

I am fortunate to live close to the Zappos.com factory outlet. In fact, I just went there this past weekend. I came home with two pairs of shoes that would normally have totaled over $135 for just $31! Yep, that's the kind of deals you can find there when they run a sale. (This past weekend they had 50% all shoes in the store.) Problem is, you never know what they'll have because everything in the outlet store is a return.

If you aren't familiar with Zappos.com, they are the largest online shoe store. They carry dozens of brands. You'll find everything from Nike and Reebok to Michael Kors, Frye and Stuart Weitzman.

I personally, due to my bad feet, like a comfortable shoe such as Keen or Patagonia. One of the two brands I got this weekend was a Keen, but I tried on the softest, most comfortable shoe from Patagonia, it was just a size too big. It had fleece lining and felt like walking cotton puffs. I guess I'll have to break down and purchase it through their online store.

What I find great about their online store verses other online shoe stores is that they have free shipping and free returns! You don't have to worry about purchasing the wrong size or the shoe not being comfortable because, if for any reason you are unsatisfied, you can return it within a year! --That's what I call customer service!

Zappos also now carries clothing, designer handbags, and famous maker sunglasses. With their great selection and incredible return policy, how can you go wrong?

My Favorite BBQ Sauce

Years ago Lea & Perrin's made a BBQ sauce that my hubby loved. It was tasty, but expensive, (compared to other *generic* brands) so I didn't purchase it often. Apparently I wasn't alone because they no longer sell the BBQ sauce.

Since then I have tried many, many BBQ sauces trying to find one that me and my family love as much as we did that one, and I finally found it! Actually, we like this one even better!

I was shopping in a local salvage store, (If you don't have a salvage store near you, they sell overstocks, discontinued items, day-old bread, dented cans, etc. I try to visit ours at least once every two weeks. I get the best bargains here! I do always check the sell-by date, most are still good but occasionally an old one will slip in.) and picked up a bottle of Moore's Honey BBQ Wing Sauce for 99 cents.

The first time I used it, hubby was grilling wings and putting Frank's Hot Sauce on them. I decided I wanted BBQ instead on mine. They were fantastic! My son tried one and we both agreed, this was the best BBQ sauce we'd ever tried!

The next time we grilled pork I had hubby put the sauce on them. This time he too had the sauce and he agreed with our assessment of it! It was such a hit in our home that the next time I went to the salvage store I purchased all the bottles they had left, 6 of them!

Now I'm in a panic -- I'm down to just 2 bottles, and I don't know where to get more! I emailed Moore's and they told me to try Liquor World. I'll be going there next week, cross your fingers for me! But my big worry is that they no longer carry it. You see, Moore's sells their other three sauces on their website, but not the Honey BBQ. Are they no longer making it? I think I'll email them back to ask, but I'm afraid of the answer. I hate when you find something you love and then they quit making it! Please, please, Moore's, I love this sauce!!

One word of caution - the sauce we love is their medium heat version and it has a kick! That's one of the reasons we love it so, it's both sweet and spicy at the same time!

Let me know if you have tried Moore's BBQ Wing Sauce... or if you know where I can get more!

When A Tree Falls...

Tuesday morning started as total bliss for me! I woke up when my eyes popped open - which doesn't happen often and is wonderful in and of itself. It was around 9 a.m. and still quite because no one was up yet. It was also storming which made it dark though it was daytime. I was snuggled up in my favorite fleece blanket. Hubby, who is still on vacation was asleep beside me, my little dog was on the floor on the other side, and I knew that my son was curled up with our Lab in his room. All was right with the world! It was one of those moments that if I could bottle it and save it forever I would have.

When we finally got up we turned on the TV and found out that even though we were receiving more wind than rain, just a few minutes away it had been pouring for quite a while and flash floods were happening. The University that my son will be attending in just a couple weeks had water gushing into it's lower floors and there were cars in their parking lot that were completely under water. The Interstate was shut down due to high water, and some people were even canoeing down what were major major streets.

That storm passed. We made a big breakfast of BLTs and eggs and basically lazed around for a few hours. Then a second round of storms came through. I was on the couch doing something on my laptop, (probably playing Tetris) hubby was in another room, and DS was sitting across from me in a recliner turning his brain to mush watching our LCD TV which was probably playing a sitcom he had already seen at least twice and said, "I thought for sure one of those trees across the road would have blown down, they were practically horizontal." A few minutes passed and I glanced up to see a bunch of leaves heading for the window and heard a cracking noise. I screamed for DS to jump up that a tree was falling and then heard a clunk.

Hubby came running out and said, "What was that?" I said, "a tree fell on the roof." DS said, "I don't think it hit the roof."

We all ran outside and it wasn't on the roof but was dangling just a few feet from it. It would have hit the roof but it was stopped short by our shed and another tree. It came up from the roots. The weatherman said the ground was so saturated that a 40 - 50 mph wind could easily knock a tree over. Well, he was right about that!




It's been two days now and we're still waiting for an insurance adjuster to come estimate the damage. The tree will, more-than-likely, crush the shed in the process of being cut down, either that or hit the roof which we are trying to avoid.

So, that's my exciting Tuesday, what did you do?

Final Clue - What I Did Last Week

Here's the final photo I'm posting as a clue to what we did last week. If you'll remember the other two photos were of sharks and seagulls. - Hmmm, what in the world could they have in common with this photo?

I'm Trying Not To Let My Addiction Take Over!

I have a new addiction! you might not want to know about it -- for fear you may succumb to it too!

My friend introduced me to it last week and now I can't get enough! I am trying to limit the amount of time I devote to it. I am either giving myself just a few minutes in the morning or waiting till everyone settles down at night. I'm almost wishing for night now though! I just can't wait till DS goes to his room to play video games, DH goes to bed, and the dogs get all settled down for the night in their little pet beds.

So what is it? ...Now you have to promise not to laugh!

It's Tetris Friends Online Games!

I used to love Tetris when my son had his first Gameboy, but because it wasn't often he would hand it over to me, I never got my fill of it. Oh, who am I kidding? I apparently can't get my fill of it ever! I'm finding myself playing it any time I have a free moment.

If you too are a Tetris lover, try this online version. Here you can play against either one opponent or 5 of them. And there are also different variations! In one of them, you try to be the first to clear 40 lines. Or, my favorite, Battle 2P, where by clearing more lines at one time you'll gives penalties to the opponent(s).

I still don't know all the tips and tricks, but I'm sure I'll figure them out soon, as much as I am playing it! Go ahead and try it... you know you want to!

Clue No. 2 - What Am I Doing This Week?

My fun week is over tomorrow it's back to reality, and work - unfortunately! I have posted another photo I took last with which should give you another clue to try to figure out what we did. (and no, my sisters, you are not allowed to guess since you already know!)

JarieLyn with Write Place! Write Chick! guessed a few of the things we did in her comment that said, "Are you walking on the beach, playing beach valley ball or swimming, perhaps?"