Flowering Dogwoods 

Remind me of a little song I once heard before I knew what a dogwood flowers looked like

I think it goes something like this

Legend of The Dogwood Tree

When Christ was on earth, the dogwood grew
To a towering size with lovely hue.
Its branches were strong and interwoven
And for Christ's cross its timbers were chosen.

Being distressed at the use of this wood,
Christ made a promise which still holds good:

"Not ever again shall the dogwood grow
To be large enough for such a tree, and so
Slender and twisted it shall always be
With cross-shaped blossoms for all to see.

The petals shall have bloodstains marked in brown
And in the blossom's center a thorny crown

All who see it will think of Me,
Nailed to a cross from the dogwood tree.
Protected and cherished this tree shall be
A reflection to all of my agony.

Avocado tomato and feta in a pocket. Lunch or just a snack. Yes, I'm still on pita sandwiches today too.

 I started with a little pesto for a good basil flavor since there isn't any basil in the garden yet and I just like pesto.

 Slice up a tomato.

 Arrange the slices in there.


Slice some fresh feta

 made with milk from Tina Turner and Janis Joplin. I think this is Tina and her kid here. It's hard to tell, famous goats all look similar ya know? Straight teeth, perfect horns, and brown patches in all the right places.

 Ok, back to the sandwich. Fresh feta is so good!

 Slice open a ripe avocado... and just admire how pretty it is. But don't stand there too long or you'll never get any lunch made.

 Slice.

 arrange as many in there as you can

and top with some minced parsley.

 This might be the best little sandwich ever

soo goood.

Avocado tomato feta pockets
ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 1 tomato
• 3 or 4 slices of feta cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced parsley
• 1 teaspoon pesto
• 1 pita pocket

This Red Lentil pocket sandwich was inspired by a recipe that had mangos, beans, ginger and garlic in it.
Like I'm going to just happen to have a mango on hand, not likely. So I used what I had: fresh pitas, cooked red lentils, a green bell pepper, cooked chicken, lettuce from the garden and powdered garlic. No, I didn't feel like pealing fresh garlic. This was just a quick lunch not a bit meal project.




 Pitas made yesterday.

  Spoon some cooked lentils into a bowl.

 Throw in some chopped green peppers, chopped cooked chicken and add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

 arrange as many leaves of lettuce as will reasonably fit

  Then spoon, or fork in the filling.

Top with a little bit of Italian salad dressing

    = Lunch.

Red Lentil Chicken pockets

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons cooked red lentils
• 1 tablespoon chopped green bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon cooked chicken
•  lettuce from the garden 
•  powdered garlic, salt, and pepper to taste
• Italian salad dressing
• 1 Pita cut in half

Mix together the lentils, bell pepper, and chicken. season to taste.
Cut pita and arrange lettuce then spoon in filling. Top with a little Italian salad dressing.

I made pita bread AND they puffed up just like they’re supposed to!
Following directions, especially the stuff about the hot oven is amazing. It works.

If you have some bread dough when it’s second rising is nearly finished it’s a good time to make pita bread. Pre heat the oven to 450f .
Turn out risen dough and press flat. Pull off pieces a little bigger than golf balls and flatten a bit

If they’re larger or smaller it really doesn’t matter. As you can see, my “golf balls vary in size a lot.

Let the rounds rest ten minutes or more until they are quite soft. Protect them from drafts to keep the surface of the dough from drying out.

See? There they are resting. I know you wanted to see if there was reallly anything under that cloth.

Use as much flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.

Roll the rounds into flat circles about as thick as a heavy wool blanket. This one in the photo is a little too thin. if they’re too thin or you’re too rough with the rolling pin they’ll puff in places but won’t balloon up; if they’re too thick they will make nice buns but won’t puff.

Put the rolled breads on the floor of the hot oven or on a cookie sheet and close the door.


Check the oven in Three minutes


they should have puffed by then.


I actually stand there and watch them puff.



when they’ve browned a little on the bottom take them out.


Now you get to eat them any way you want! I had to eat one just to see if it was good. So I had it with butter.
I think I once heard
                                     that Butter was fresh bread’s best friend.
Pita Bread
Ingredients

• Whole wheat bread dough
• flour for rolling

Pre heat the oven to 450f when bread dough's second rising is nearly finished.

Turn out risen dough and press flat. Pull off pieces a little bigger than golf balls and flatten a bit. If they’re larger or smaller it really doesn’t matter.
Let the rounds rest ten minutes or more until they are quite soft. Protect them from drafts to keep the surface of the dough from drying out
Use as much flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.
Roll the rounds into flat circles about as thick as a heavy wool blanket. This one in the photo is a little too thin. if they’re too thin or you’re too rough with the rolling pin they’ll puff in places but won’t balloon up; if they’re too thick they will make nice buns but won’t puff.
Put the rolled breads on the floor of the hot oven or on a cookie sheet and close the door.
Check the oven in Three minutes they should have puffed by then.
when they’ve browned a little on the bottom take them out.

I have always used Firefox for a browser I tried Chrome recently, and I have IE because it comes on my computer but rarely use it. So I did a little comparing.
With Firefox's latest random browser freezes Chrome is starting to grow on me.

IE is unable to display this, and unable to display that so never mind about IE.

Both Firefox and Chrome display responsive templates, though Chrome does a better job without the need to install any add-ons.

My most favoritest thing about firefox (and now Chrome too) is, well a bunch of things but I really like Add-ons! The little free awesomeness called Adblock Plus it blocks all those ads I didn't want to be distracted and annoyed with. Plus if there is a site that I want to support the advertisers on I can make an exception in the setting to show adds on certain pages. When I'm browsing websites I like being in charge.

  Adblock Plus — for annoyance-free web surfing

• Block all ads automatically, no distractions
• Browse faster and safer
• Fully customizable — you are in control
• Easy to contribute, report issues when you see them

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser
Firefox Free Download 

Adblock Plus for Chrome

Lima bean dip. Lima What?! Yeah I know, sounds crazy but I just ate it and it was pretty good.

 Cook Lima beans in 1/2 cup of water for 10 minutes. Cool then blend with enough water to not get stuck in the blender. If a few aren't totally blended no big deal. season with salt,  pepper, garlic powder, to taste.

  Drain can of diced tomatoes with green chilies.

 Spread a layer of Lima bean paste in a glass dish.

layer the yogurt,

   tomatoes,

  parsley,

   and cheese.

 Top with a little more parsley.

Time to see if it's ok.

It looks good,

Oh it looks real good, of course I like any excuse to eat corn chips.

Yeah I like it and I'll just have one more...

I have no idea how THAT happened! I ate a lot of the edge doesn't that count for something?

I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. I'll have another.

Sharing the love one lima bean at a time,
Goodnight

Lima Bean dip
Ingredients

• 12 oz frozen baby lima beans
• 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 3/4 cup plain whole milk greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
•   4 oz shredded cheese

Cook lima beans in 1/2 cup of water for 10 minutes. cool then blend with enough water to not get stuck in the blender. season with salt,  pepper, garlic powder, to taste.
Drain can of diced tomatoes with green chilies.
Spread a layer of lima bean paste in a glass dish.  layer the yogurt, tomatoes, parsley, and cheese. Then top with a little more parsley.
Serve with blue corn chips