SENIOR LADY: PENCIL CACTUS PROJECT!

 

 

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 my two feet

plant into two cuttings. I didn't realize that splitting 

the cactus would be hard to do.  The main stem was 

very hard and thick. I needed a sharper knife. I finally

 got the cactus separated after 10 minutes of struggling.

I kept the two cuttings in a recycled Christmas bucket,

until I could buy cactus soil.

I used to put my succulents in all purpose potting

soil. I added perlite to the soil.  They did grew fine

 in this soil. I was shopping at a garden center, when

 I saw a special soil for succulents, cactus, and palm

 trees. I discovered that this soil mix had better

 drainage.  My plants did look healthier. This store

only had small bags of this soil. The cost might seem

high, if you had large volume of succulents and cactus.

 Two large light blue planters were purchased to put

the cuttings in.  I used a wood burning pen to make 

three holes in the bottom of the planters.  

I may have to put stakes on the cactus. They are "top

 heavy" and seem to lean a little.

They will be placed in sunny locations in

 my front yard.  I am looking forward to

 seeing the pencil cactus turn orange in the

 fall. My friends and neighbors marvel at this 

 color changing cactus. 

SENIOR LADY: LEFTOVER GRILLED STEAK MAGIC!

   

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

weeknight meal.

GRILLED STEAK QUESADILLAS

2 cups Chopped Grilled Steak

1 Teaspoon Mexican Taco Seasoning 

2 cups Shredded Colby Jack Cheeses

1/2 Teaspoon Pickled Jalapenos, Chopped 

1/4 Teaspoon Pickled Jalapenos Juice

Butter for Browning Quesadillas 

4 ( 6 inch ) Chipotle Tortillas 

4 ( 6 inch) Flour Tortillas 

DIRECTIONS:

Season the chopped steak with Taco seasoning.

Add a little water if needed.

Heat skillet on medium high heat. Melt 1-2 pats

of butter.

Add one tortilla in skillet. Place cheese

on tortilla. Add  steak on top of the cheese.

Place cheese on top of the on top of steak. 

Place another tortilla on top of cheese.

Use metal or wooden spatula to flip  quesadillas

 over after 1-2 minutes.  Brown on both sides. 

Place quesadillas on plate. Cut into wedges.

Serve with salsa and tortilla chips, if desired.

TIPS:

**Oil can substituted for butter.

** Don't over stuff quesadillas, in

order to avoid spillage when flipping over.

** Quesadillas can be folded in half 

when assembling. Just place meat

& cheese on one side of tortilla 

before folding over.

* Any chopped meat can be used;

great way to use up leftovers.

* Green Chilies & other chopped

veggies can be added to steak.

** Jalapenos can be omitted if

dislike spicy food. 

** Monterey Jack or Mozzarella 

Cheese are good also.

** Several quesadillas can be placed

on greased sheet pan & baked if cooking 

for a crowd.

SENIOR LADY: BANANA COOK OFF! #2

 

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 bread cool before serving.

TIPS:

** Vanilla or Yellow Cake mix ok.

** If only 14 oz cake mix available, 

add 1/4 cup extra cake mix or biscuit mix

to ingredients.

** Pineapple tidbits or slices can be

crushed in a food processor.

I still had shredded coconut, bananas, and 

pineapple left in the pantry.

SENIOR LADY: BANANA COOK OFF!

  

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 rest 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 sprinkle with a little lemon juice

or white vinegar to prevent browning. In a 8 inch 

round glass dish, layer vanilla wafers on the bottom

of the dish. Next layer half of the sliced bananas 

on top of the wafers. Open all of the cups of pudding.

Spread contents from 2 cups of pudding over the

 bananas. Repeat the process for the second layer,

using wafers, rest of bananas, & pudding. Spread 

 whipped topping over entire surface of banana 

pudding. Garnish top of banana pudding with 

crushed vanilla wafers. Chill in fridge for at

least 2 hours before serving. 

The rest of the banana recipes will be shared in 

BANANA COOK OFF! Part 2

TIPS:

** 2 Small bananas can be used.

** Any brand of vanilla wafers

can be used. Store brand are thicker

and don't get mushy quickly.

** Pineapple tidbits or chunks can

be substituted for banana.