Macro Flowers ~ October 28, 2011

I captured these at the beginning of the Fall season. 

The colour was starting to fade and the petals were a little wilted but I found the faded beauty enchanting. 

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Thursday Sky

First snow on the North Shore mountains this year.  It is a nice, sunny day even though we were expecting rain.  There is no snow at street level here in the city but the air has a definite chill. Time to start wearing and carrying gloves.

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Enjoy your weekend and please check out beautiful sky photos from around the world by clicking on the badge below.

Pear Tart

Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 

Leviticus 26:4

One of the fruits of the tree that I love is pears.

One of the unripened left over pears.

 We had some pears this week that quickly started to ripen.  They got used in an easy to make tart.

Pie crust rolled and put into tart pan.

Ingredients:

• 1 (unbaked) pie crust
• 3-4 pears, quartered, cored, peeled, and sliced
• 1/2  cup sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp.lemon juice

Pears sliced and arranged in the pan and excess dough taken off the edges.

 Preparation:

1. Line a 10-inch tart pan  pr pie pan with an unbaked pie crust and set aside.
2. In a large bowl toss pear slices with 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Arrange pear slices on crust in a pattern of your choice.
3. Bake at 350º until crust is brown on the edges and pears are tender which will take about 40 minutes depending on your oven.
4. While the pear tart is baking put the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in a small saucepan along with 1/4 cup of water and the remaining pear slices.  Once it boils, reduce heat, simmer and cook for about about 10 minutes until the syrup thickens.
5. While tart cools, brush generously with syrup. 
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Finished tart!

This is a simple recipe to make and is the first time I've made it. I had pie crust on hand in the freezer from the last time I made a pie so all I had to do was thaw it out first. If you don't make pie crust you can use a store bought one.

Notes: The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar (1/3 for mixing with the sliced pears and the other 1/3 to make the syrup but I used less because of my diabetes. If you like a sweeter tart, you can use the original amount of sugar and add 1/3 cup of water when making the syrup. If you have a tart pan with a removable bottom like mine, I recommend putting it on top of a cookie tray when you put it in the oven. Otherwise the juices will be running into your oven and possibly catch fire. Putting the tart pan on top of a baking sheet will likely increase the time you need to bake the tart.

Enjoy!

Some Things End and New Things Begin

We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful... and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.

Bishop Desmond Tutu

South African Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

I so love this quote by Bishop Tutu.  It is these beautiful things in life as well as my faith in the Creator who made them, that keep me sane and help me endure whatever I may face in life. The beauty in the colours of Fall are what spoke to me of the sublime today amidst learning of the tragedy that has hit the country of Kenya.  The country of my heart and spirit. Please say a little prayer for the people as they endure yet more tragedy in the form of bomb attacks on the City of Nairobi.

A month or so ago, I started pneumatic compression therapy. It was to help eliminate some water from my legs and take some of the stress off of the right knee and leg which has troubled me for months. I think it helped me by giving me that added boost I needed in conjunction with everything else I'm doing to lose weight and get more mobility in the leg.

This is a photo of pneumatic compression therapy. I only get my legs and hips covered.

Given the high cost of this therapy, even at reduced (for me) rates, I've decided not to continue with another round. Instead I'm going to start physiotherapy on the leg and deep massage to supplement the acupuncture treatments I am still getting.

Today I managed to heed my TCM doctor's advice and walk very slowly.  Distance covered was 18 city blocks or approximately 1 mile or 1.6 kilometres. Not too bad, considering there are some days I can't walk more than 3 blocks. The new cross trainers really helped provide the stability and support I needed.

Along the way I stopped at a few shops to buy some small items and to replenish my supply of vegetables.  For a treat and for juicing, I was able to pick up a basket of strawberries on a great buy.

I stopped by my doctor's office to pick up the referral for the new therapies as they will be paid for in large part by medical insurance.  The paper wasn't ready.  Or at least the front desk staff couldn't find it.  My trip wasn't wasted as the doctor asked me to get about 4 blood pressure readings at different intervals over the next several weeks. I got the first one today.

I was relieved to find my blood pressure reading was much better than it was last Wednesday (136/76).  Today it was 126/85. I'm not sure why the bottom number is so high but I'm working on getting the numbers down to normal (120/70). I'm hopeful my next reading will be similarly good,  or even better.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have more  rain after a few days of beautiful, sunny Fall days. Today it was just nice to stroll along the street and snap a few photos of the Fall foliage without worrying about rain drops getting in the camera lens.

This is what I love about the Fall; all the glorious colour.

I want to let my regular readers know that I may not be as active for a few days while I deal with some personal errands and begin new therapies. I have one or possibly two pre-scheduled posts but I may not be up to reading blogs and commenting as prolifically as I usually do for the immediate future.

Chicken & Sausage Casserole

Yesterday I posted a recipe for the chili I made on Saturday. Today I'm posting the dinner  made on Sunday. It was delicious and very filling. I feel like making some nice pumpkin or cranberry muffins but I'll probably wait until Monday as there is movie I want to catch right now while I enjoy a cup of tea.

 

Ingredients

• 6-8 Italian sausages (sliced) *

• 4 pieces of chicken thighs/legs

• 3 c. brown rice

• 6 c. water

• 1 tsp. vegetable oil

• 1 chopped white onion

• 1 chopped green and red bell peppers

• 1 can of stewed tomatoes or chop about 3 fresh tomatoes

• 3 tsp. of chopped/minced garlic

• 3 chicken bouillon cubes

• salt (to taste  - not to much if you have high blood pressure)

• pepper (to taste)

• 3-4 drops soy sauce for colouring (can be omitted if you have high blood sugar)

• a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp. worchestershire sauce

• 1 tsp. hot sauce

Directions

In a large pot over medium/high heat "brown" your sliced sausage in the vegetable oil for approximately 5-7 minutes.  You want it brown. Repeat sausage step with the chicken and remove from the heat when done.

Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Sautee in the same pot until transparent.  Put the chicken and sausage back in the pot and add the water. You can also add the seasonings, worchestershire, and soy sauce (optional).  Bring to a full boil and add rice, boullion cubes and hot sauce.  Stir occasionally and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to simmer, and cover for 1 hour taking care not to remove the lid during this time.
Remove lid, turn off heat, serve up and enjoy.

* A package of Grimm's All-Beef Smokies were used and they were very lean.

If you have no dietary or cholesterol concerns you could use a sausage with more fat (and flavour).  Personally I found these sausages to be hard and they didn't soften with cooking. They were okay in the casserole but next time I would choose a more traditional pork sausage.

Enjoy!

I think this will be new favourite during our cold months of winter.
What is your favourite cold weather dish?