Winter Makes a Statement

After a rainy 56 degrees yesterday afternoon, winter made its reappearance today.

Today was the last day for the Great Backyard Bird Count and I was happy to see a female Hairy Woodpecker at one of the feeders. I refer to her as Harriet.

After snowing this morning, the sun came out and promptly melted all the snow. The snow picked up again this afternoon.

It's a wet, sticky snow.

Kelley's poor car has a coat of snow.

Low Carb and Not Really Loving It

Well, I've been good today. Even while I was at my daughter-in-law's baby shower today (Yikes! How is it that I am going to be a grandmother? How did that happen? No, wait - I really don't want to know.)

My lunch: a romaine leaf with ham, Swiss cheese, onion, and honey mustard and a side of leftover orzo salad with carrot, red onion, celery and sugar snap peas. The vinaigrette is white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, dijon mustard and a sprinkling of sugar.

There was much food at the baby shower, but quite a bit of it was either chicken or carbs. Thus, I had 2 slices of ham (with the ends torn off because they may have been touching chicken), a half slice of Swiss cheese and a half slice of provlone cheese, carrots, celery sticks, broccoli and some chip dip for the veggies.

And now we have dinner. My poor family has been craving fried chicken, so I stopped on the way home from the baby shower to pick up some freshly made fried chicken and some beef for my dinner. Here, I used beef tri-tip for my salad. The verdict? My husband and daughter are happy campers while I feel like a rabbit, albeit a carnivorous rabbit. Excuse me while I twitch my whiskers...

The Great Backyard Bird Count Continues

This is the second day of this year's Great Backyard Bird Count and the first day I had several birds to count. Yesterday was a disappointment, as only four birds visited the feeders. I was in luck this morning, though. It's not too late for you to join in the fun and do your own count.

Uh-oh. Seems we have another bird lover. Sorry, Eddy, you need to go back home so the birds will come around.

Now that the cat's gone, the birds arrive.

I fill the feeders with black sunflower seeds. I have tried the cheaper mixes in the past, but much of the seed was discarded by the picky clients. Not much of a money saver since most of the seed was left uneaten.

One of 6 cardinals that visited this morning. They typically travel in pairs, so we had 3 males and 3 females.

A tufted titmouse. They grab a seed, then hold it with their feet and peck it open with their beaks.

A sparrow visits.

Today's count: 6 cardinals, 1 chickadee, 1 tufted titmouse, 6 house finches, 3 juncos and 1 sparrow.

Let's Try Something Different

Feeling as though I had gotten into a rut lately, I searched for a way to revamp an old favorite for dinner tonight. I started off by making a bourbon marinade for the pork tenderloin I had planned to serve.

The ingredients for the Bourbon Marinade. Since it is the middle of winter, I substituted 1/2 teaspoon of Herbes De Provence (the no gerbils mix) for the fresh herbs. Also, Kessler's (tm) is an American whisky rather than a bourbon. True bourbon can only come from a certain area of Kentucky and must meet certain legal requirements in order to be called bourbon.

BOURBON MARINADE

Again, I have adapted a recipe from Paula Deen. This is my version of a bourbon marinade. As usual, I tweaked the ingredients and the amounts to come up with something that I liked. If using dried herbs, use only half as much of each herb. This marinade works especially well with beef.

½ cup bourbon
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
¼ cup lemon juice
1 ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs. Olive oil
½ cup water
½ tsp. Fresh thyme, chopped
½ tsp. Fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Mix all ingredients and pour into a zipper top bag. Place the bag in a dish before adding the meat. Push as much of the air out of the bag as possible and seal the bag. Place the container in the refrigerator and turn every hour or two to ensure that all the meat has been properly covered in the marinade. Marinade for 4 hours or even overnight. If roasting in the oven, pour the marinade over the meat and bake. If grilling, discard the remaining marinade.

The marinade is ready to be poured over the pork loin. Notice that I have put the zip-top bag in a container to ward off any potential refrigerator accidents.

And now we have an action shot of the marinade going into the bag. Do you have ANY idea of how hard this is to do by oneself?

Now, don't be a Sandra Lee by not 'burping' the bag. Burp the bag! The marinade must be in contact with the meat. This can only happen if the excess air is expelled from the bag. This must then go into the refrigerator for a few hours.

In order to make the marinade safe for consumption, I boil it for a few minutes. Do not skip this step, if you care for those who will eat your food, or if you don't want to be sued for food poisoning.

Okay, I forgot to photograph the finished pork loin. I had started it on the stove, and then moved it to the oven to finish. The pork loin came out of the oven when the internal temperature reached 140 degrees. I covered it with aluminum foil for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Also, I do not want to condemn my husband and daughter to my low-carb diet (can you hear the cheers of relief?), so I roasted a couple of russet potatoes, with onions for me. I also made my 'patented' Green and Gold Salad as an accompaniment. Oops, sorry, no pictures for this dish. You'll have to trust me: this is easy and good.

GREEN AND GOLD SALAD

This is a favorite recipe for Gary and Kelley. Kelley likes her peas uncooked anyway, and with the additional ingredients, she is in heaven. Frozen peas have been blanched during the processing, so there is no problem with not cooking them first. Oddly, people either love this recipe or hate it. This salad does not hold up well to storage, so the dressing needs to be added to the other ingredients just before serving.

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen green peas

1/2 c. shredded natural cheddar cheese
2 tbs. chopped onion

2 tbs. mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard

1/4 tsp. salt
crisp salad greens

Optional: fresh mint, finely chopped

Rinse peas with small amount of running cold water to separate the peas and to remove ice crystals; drain. Mix all ingredients except salad greens. Serve salad on greens.

Makes 4 or 5 servings. Marilyn’s note: don’t mix rest of ingredients with peas and cheese until just before serving.


Oh, and by the way? Happy Valentines Day to you and yours.

A Twist on a New Recipe

I have had a good bit of luck with Ina Garten's recipes from The Barefoot Contessa on Food Network and I really wanted to try her recipe for Chicken Piccata when it first came out. Unfortunately, that was also about the same time that I found out I am allergic to chicken. What to do? I was able to find a package of Turkey Tenderloin for Scallopini, which is turkey breast that has been thinly sliced. Ah, I thought, this is my chance. I didn't even have to whack the meat. Hmm, that might be a drawback...

I did use only 1/4 cup of lemon juice, rather than the 1/3 cup that Ina recommended and I omitted the lemon slices. I found that I needed 2 large eggs to coat all the meat. Also, as it is February in Southern Indiana, I have no fresh parsley on hand, so I also left that out.

Mis en place for the Turkey Scallopini.

The breaded turkey goes into a hot pan. Have I told you that I love this pan? No, really. I am in love.

The meat continues to cook. After it is cooked through, I remove it to a platter and place in a warm oven. On to the next step...

And I've found the perfect use for my new silicone whisk. The sauce is coming together.

The completed dish.

The verdict? This was an easy dish to prepare and took very little time once the meat had been breaded. The meat was tender and the breading was wonderful and not too much for the meat. However, the lemon flavor was far too strong for such a delicate dish. I will make this again, but I would definitely reduce the amount of lemon juice. But still, it's a decent start.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

February 15 - 18 marks the dates for the 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count. This is a joint project of Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. If you have 15 minutes and a desire to help our feathered friends, then I invite you to join me in this venture. It's fun and it's easy.

House finches at the feeder.

A mockingbird visits the suet feeder out front.

Mr. Sandman and the Weather

Our area didn't get all the snow they were calling for, but we are certainly getting the ice. I think I'll just stay inside...

Just what our street needed: more sand. The snowplow came through the neighborhood this morning and left a trail. Long after the snow and ice are gone, the sand will remain. Then in the spring the county will come along and sweep it all up.

Ice covers the landscape.

Fortunately, the ice actually forms a protective barrier against the cold.

Two male cardinals brave the freezing rain to visit the bird feeders on my deck.