SENIOR MOMENT 4 WOMEN

    I fell in love with the pencil cactus several years ago.  I was shopping at a garden center. I saw a large red pot with a plant that looked  like green sticks.  The  pot had a tag on it,  which read, fire stick cactus.  The sales clerk  said the the sticks turn orange during  the fall season.  Sure enough, the cactus turned a  beautiful shade  of orange. I placed the cactus in my  greenhouse during the winter.  It stayed alive until the  winter temp dropped  below 20. My greenhouse was  heated; however, fifty percent  of the cactus died.   Now, I keep my pencil cactus  in my house during  the winter months.  I had two  planters   with  pencil  cactus that are two feet and four  feet. I gave the four  feet pencil cactus to my son. I am  keeping the two feet  cactus plant for myself. My cactus project involves separating m...

    We were experiencing a warm spell last week in  the south. The temperatures were in the  sixties and seventies.  I love to cook on the grill and I had to take advantage of those warm days. I grilled hamburgers and kielbasa sausage on Saturday.  I  shared them with my nextdoor neighbor. The charcoals were still hot, so I decided  to add a steak  on the grill.  My family was full from  eating burgers,  sausages, and baked beans.   No one wanted to eat  steak.  The steak was added to my leftovers. I cut a small piece of the steak to see whether it was tender. I didn't marinate it before putting it on the grill.  This two pound steak was not very tender. I decided to finely chop it up in the food  processor. It would be more palatable when  I added it to a recipe. I wondered how this steak  would taste in a Mexican recipe. Tacos, burritos, and quesadillas are quick and easy to make for we...

  My friends enjoyed the banana pudding. The rest of the organic bananas needed to be used up or frozen. They were getting  to ripe. I looked online for varieties of banana bread. I found a couple of recipes for "Hawaiian Banana Bread" with pineapple  and coconut. I had never heard of this recipe.  It sounded interesting and might  taste good. I decided to give one of these  recipes a try. I would have to tweak this recipe since I would be using cake mix.   LYDIA'S HAWAIIAN BANANA BREAD: 15.25 oz White Cake Mix 1/2 cup butter, soft 2 eggs 8 oz can crushed pineapple, DO NOT DRAIN! 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut 1 large banana, mashed  1 teaspoon vanilla extract  DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven 325 temp. Grease 9 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients. Mix well  with a hand held mixer or mixing fork. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake bread for 40 minutes or until the middle of the bread is firm to touch. Let bre...

   My cousin dropped by yesterday. She gave me  a large bunch of organic bananas. I thanked  her for this wonderful gift.  My dilemma was  going to be how to use them up before they  perished.  My Mom could slice some over her  morning bowl of cereal. I could bake banana  bread and muffins. No other recipes came to mind. I went into my pantry and looked around the  shelves. I saw an unopened box of vanilla  wafers, canned fruit, coconut, cake mix,  and a 4-pack of vanilla pudding.  I spent the r est of the night looking online   for recipe ideas. I decided to use the bananas  for  banana pudding, Island inspired banana bread, and banana peanut butter muffins.  The rest of the bananas will be put in  the  freezer. This week I'm preparing: Easy Weeknight Banana Pudding Need: Box Vanilla Wafers 4-pack vanilla pudding Large banana 8 oz Whipped Topping, thawed Directions: Slice banana and...