School Fashion: September 2012

Frying fish without oil

If you are anything like me you enjoy fried foods. Yes, I know, fried foods generally are not considered healthy but I can admit that they taste darn good! As you are most likely aware, I am a big fan of eating everything in moderation and if I am feeling like fried food it will generally be fish. As I've been working on adopting a Paleo lifestyle I have fried fish once but it was in a very minimal amount of oil - not deep fried at all. When presented with the opportunity to try an oil less fryer I was totally intrigued. I can enjoy fried foods without the extra calories? Yup, I'll take it! May I present to you the Big Boss!

The big boss will fry food without oil by utilizing a heating lamp. It is really a nifty gadget because there are two levels and you can fry two things at once. Of course, I had to try a fried fish recipe so I turned to the recipe book included with the fryer and decided on almond crusted salmon.

I picked up the fish, almonds and lemons from Walmart. I chopped the almonds, dipped the fish in coconut flour (Paleo approved), and then dipped the top of the fish in an egg wash dipped it in almonds and it was ready to go in the fryer.

The recipe called for cooking the fish for ten minutes and that is exactly what I did.

When I make the recipe in the future I will adjust it depending on the type of fish I use. I found that the salmon was a little overcooked for me and the almonds were quite toasty.....my son said burnt but I will say toasty! The taste however was excellent so I think once I get the hang of cooking with the fryer I will cook the fish perfectly. I also made julienned sweet potatoes in the fryer too. I wasn't thrilled with the outcome but next time I will actually cut the sweet potato into fries. I think the cooking times are guides so I will continue to play around with the fryer until I know exactly how long the cooking times should actually be.

I look forward to mastering the fryer and enjoying some of my favorite indulgences without the extra calories!

Disclosure: I am a Walmart mom and received compensation and products to complete this post. All opinions are my own.

2012-13, Our Golden Year

1962 was an exciting year in Newton Aycliffe as it saw the opening of our school and the beginning of formal Catholic education in the town.

On Thursday 4th October at 9.30am Bishop Seamus will be celebrating Mass with us to mark the start of our Golden year and all are welcome.

On Friday 19th October there will be reunion disco for all ex-pupils. Why not wear your uniform?! Tickets available from the school office.

For more information about our school, please visit our website at St Mary's Catholic School Website

2012-13 is also the Catholic Church's Year of Faith, when Catholics from around the world are asked to reflect on their Faith and deepen their relationship with Christ.

For more information on the Year of Faith please visit Year of Faith

More News From the Bush!

Mrs Hargreaves writes:

The Y5 children took part in a bush craft and camping trip. They all enjoyed themselves even though they got cold and dirty. These are a few of their thoughts….

“On Thursday 20^thSeptember we headed off to Moorhouse. Mrs Mathews came on the mini bus and Mrs Hargreaves followed in her car with all of the luggage! On the bus we sang nursery rhymes – but the boys didn’t!” – Sophie

“We put up the tents. The girls ones were orange, the boys and Mrs Hargreaves and Mrs Matthews were blue. They were small like a coffin!” - Bethany

“My team built the best shelter because the rain didn’t leak on the carpet.” – Bartosz

“We had to take down our shelters. One funny thing that we noticed is that it took ages to put it up and then minutes to take it back down.” - Joseph

“We had to take our diaries and Mrs Hargreaves made us write them. We did homework on our trip” - Dominic

“Mrs Hargreaves had to get up twice in the night because I needed the toilet” – Leah

“Yes, and it was cold, dark and raining!!!!” – Mrs Hargreaves

Snuggly puppy Sunday

I don't know about where you are, but here in Texas it's been rainy and dreary all weekend. Sounds like a good time to get in some snuggling. Even better if you can snuggle with puppies!

The Candies snuggling up to the milk bar.

Baby Austin and Aspen

Don't furget to go to this link and vote for PINK to help win $15,000 for Andi's Candies and the rest of LBR! (You have to have Facebook for this one, sorry.) You can use a multiplier code with your vote to make it count extra times. (You can only use each code once. After that just vote normally.)

JuJYjx (x 100 votes)

TECeGp (x 50 votes)
JD7w8x (x 25 votes)
9vDe2q (x 10 votes)
3Gud8Q (x 2 votes)

The Best Florist in Belgium

It has just been announced that Tom Nackaerts, owner of Young Amadeus in Leuven, Belgium has been named his country's "Best Florist".

Young Amadeus http://www.youngamadeus.be Mechelsestraat 41, Leuven

The Shop's fragrant and colorful interior.

The Shop's Tearoom Cafe

Some years ago, while living in Belgium, I was a regular vistor to the first Amadeus, which was the exquisite flower shop of Tom's father Jan. Also in the center of Leuven, Jan's was one of the first shops in Belgium to create a unique Belgian floral style by combining historical and modern elements. In fact, Amadeus was so beloved, that when it closed, a rose was named in its honor. Nackaerts, the younger, most certainly learned much at his father's knee. Evidently, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Tot ziens,

Marjorie

(Photo immages from Nieusblad, Le Coin Beaute de Katina, Cityzine, Facebook; Antique Floralies 1913 announcement from my collection of paper ephemera )

Bye-bye, Runts

I'm sorry to let everyone know that Runts passed away last night. She was the smallest of the Candies and just never gained strength, even with her foster daddy bottle-feeding her. Run free and strong as can be at the Bridge, Runts!

The rest of the Candies are very healthy and doing well with their momma's tender loving care. They had their tails docked yesterday, so they're even cuter! :)

TECeGp (x 50 votes)
JD7w8x (x 25 votes)
9vDe2q (x 10 votes)
3Gud8Q (x 2 votes)

And... my caption contest is over! Thank you to everyone who voted. There were some grreat captions, but the winner is...

"But Santa, I can explain...."

BOL! Yeah, I sometimes have some explaining to do for the Big Guy, but it always works in the end! Grreat caption, Chris Slaughter! Please send your address to dreagoddess(at)gmail(dot)com to get your prize!

Sweet Candy

LBR is already in love with our newest members, Andi's Candies, who were born on Wednesday afternoon! Andi is a very good momma and is doing a grreat job taking care of all her babies! Here she is snuggling with Whoppers.

Sweet little Runts is the tiniest of them all. Here she is getting a little bit of extra help in growing with an extra bottle from her foster daddy. Keep your paws crossed that she keeps growing and improving!

Hey, do you know what would be a grreat birthday pressent for the puppies? $15k for LBR!!

Go to this link and vote for PINK to help win $15,000 for Andi's Candies and the rest of LBR! (You have to have Facebook for this one, sorry.) You can use a multiplier code with your vote to make it count extra times. (You can only use each code once.)
JuJYjx (x 100 votes)

TECeGp (x 50 votes)
JD7w8x (x 25 votes)
9vDe2q (x 10 votes)
3Gud8Q (x 2 votes)

Oh, and don't furget that today is the last day to enter my furst ever contest! Go to this post to see my "caption this" photo and submit your caption in the comments. Entries must be in by 5pm (Central time) TODAY. I'll pick my favorite and send you a toy pawsonally picked out for you by yours truly!

Halloween Costumes

Although in my last post I said I would wait until later in the week to post my costume post honestly this couldn't wait! My son is head over heels in LOVE with his HULK costume! The muscles, the fist, all of it is just super exciting for him. This is the first picture I took of him and although you can't tell, he is barefoot. This was requisite because the HULK? He doesn't wear shoes!

I never thought I'd be the mom who dresses up with my child but this will be the third year that I will wear a costume and to stay with the superhero theme, I am SUPER mom!

Please excuse the quality of the photo, my son took it with my camera on the phone and needs just a little more practice! But you get the idea, I am a fighter of all stains, maker of all meals, runner of marathons and all around SUPER MOM!

I had to catch a photo of us together we are using our powers for good...in the bathroom!

Did I mention how much my son LOVES his costume. You can see he is totally in character. But what you don't know is that for the past three days he has LIVED in this costume. He is the Hulk morning, noon and night. He even has asked me if he can sleep in it! I had to draw the line because I've let him wear the costume when we go outside to the store and when running other errands....what I can I say I indulge him!

Since it isn't October yet and he wants to wear the costume daily, I am not sure if this particular Hulk costume will make it to Halloween. I'll know for next time and I will purchase the 2 costumes for $35.00 available at Walmart. Since my mom loves to purchase costumes for my son annually and I'm sure this one will be threadbare by Halloween, she gets to send him a new one!

I am a huge fan of the costume section at Walmart. I've been wearing the costumes for the last three years and they truly have the best prices and a great selection. I was a fan before I had the opportunity to receive sample costumes because I'm a Walmart mom. Since all of the Walmarts do not carry the entire costume collection (especially for adults) be sure to check out Walmart.com for the full selection.

Disclosure: I am a Walmart mom and received compensation and products for this post. All opinions are my own.

Octomom!

Okay, enough being coy about it. LBR has BIG NEWS! And you know how the best BIG news comes? In SMALL packages! And LBR has some very small packages that were delivered yesterday!

Let's welcome the Candies, LBR's latest litter! 6 girls and 2 boys were born yesterday to Momma Andi. They're all healthy and wiggly and incredibly adorable!

"Hi dere, I'm Aero!"

"I'z a sweet little girl, so dey calls me Dots!"

"Grr! I'm a tough boy called Necco!"

"I'z a big girl! Dey call me Rolo."

"I'z called Runts, 'cause I'z the smallest of dem all. But I've got spunk for twice my size!"

"Toot toot Tootsie is my name, being cute's my game!"

"Wit beautiful furs like dis, what could dey callz me but Twix?"

"I'z de biggest of dem all, so my name is Whoppers!"

Welcome to the Legacy family, Candies!! We're so glad you've joined us. You're going to have such wonderfully pawsome lives as LBR dogs! Just grow and learn all about life for now. We'll meet in the furs soon.

And everyone give a round of applause to the Octomom herself, the FANGTASTIC Miss Andi!! (Featured here with her son Whoppers.)

"Itz been a long day. Time fur a well-earned nap!"

(**Note: Like any rescue, LBR promotes spaying and neutering. But sometimes we'll have a pregnant momma turn up in a shelter, and of course we help her and her pups. The pups will stay with Momma Andi until they're 8 weeks old, then they'll go to foster homes of their own and be adopted through LBR. We'll know at about 4 weeks if they're full boxers or not.)

Daily Reminders:
#1 - Don't furget to go to this link and vote for PINK to help win $15,000 for LBR! You can use a multiplier code with your vote to make it count extra times. (Just once per person.)
JuJYjx (x 100 votes)

TECeGp (x 50 votes)
JD7w8x (x 25 votes)
9vDe2q (x 10 votes)
3Gud8Q (x 2 votes)

#2 - Just one more day to enter my furst ever contest! Go to this post to see my "caption this" photo and submit your caption in the comments. Entries must be in by 5pm (Central time) on Friday. I'll pick my favorite and send you a toy pawsonally picked out for you by yours truly!

Halloween Treats

Fall is in the air and you know what that means, Halloween is not too far behind! I actually look forward to this time of the year because I love running in cool weather and I am also more likely to provide my son with a few more sweet treats. Believe me, he eats healthy food most of the time but I do let him have an ocasional treat.

Right now, Walmart has fall themed treats prominently displayed and my son was immediately drawn to the display.

Since I am NOT eating sugary treats, I spent time locating things that were minimal in number. I don't want to tease myself nor do I want my son eating too much of a "good" thing.

We settled on a six pack of cupcakes topped with candy corn - the classic Halloween treat!

Clearly there are numerous choices and the bakery has so many goods for festive Fall Harvest and/or Halloween parties. We are getting ready for Halloween in these parts. Look out for my post later this week highlighting our costume choices!

Disclosure: I am a Walmart mom and have been compensated and/or received products for writing this post. As usual, all opinions are my own.

Relentlessly Huge Heart

Our regular post this morning is interrupted to say a very sad farewell to my buddy Mango. Momma and I were devastated this morning to log on to Blogville and find that our Relentlessly Huge furiend suddenly passed away this morning. Mango was a big guy, but he had an even bigger heart. Blogville just won't be the same without him. Godspeed, Mango. We love you!

Mango Relentlessly Huge

May 4th 2005 - September 26, 2012

Please visit his blog and give his momma and brother Dexter your condolences.

*****

I also just learned that my furiend Trudie of Three Little Pugs passed away last night too. :~( I'm sure her family would also appreciate your condolences. Run free at the Bridge, Miss Trudie!

*****

Please don't furget to vote for PINK! Pink blogs over at Diary of a Deaf Dog, and she's an LBR foster dog. AND she made it as a Top 100 finalist in the Fuzzy Nation Super Model contest! If she wins, LBR will get $15,000!!!! Think of all the dogs we can help with that much green paper!

You have to have Facebook to vote in this one. If you do, please go to this link and vote for PINK. (The list is alphabetical, so you'll have to scroll down a bit.)

There are multiplier codes that will increase your vote. You just enter them in the box below the VOTE button. I have them listed below and their values. The rules state that they can only be used once per person.

JuJYjx (x 100 votes)

TECeGp (x 50 votes)
JD7w8x (x 25 votes)
9vDe2q (x 10 votes)
3Gud8Q (x 2 votes)

Thank you!!