Last night, I decided to make a dessert for us to enjoy after our dinner of chicken and vegetable pot stickers.
I thawed (in the microwave) a bag of frozen peach slices (from the garden) and a bag of mango pieces that I had cut up and frozen myself (each bag probably held about two cups of fruit), dumped it all into a square glass baking pan with a quarter of a cup of sugar (daughter thought that less than a quarter cup would have been fine, too), a couple of heaping tablespoons from a jar of ginger preserves an aunt had given me as a gift, and a sprinkling of powdered cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg and stirred everything to mix well:
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| Mango and Peach Filling |
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| Mango-Peach Dump Cake; Fresh Out of the Oven |
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| Mango-Peach Dump Cake |
The ginger preserves gave it a nice, "warm" flavor, along with the cinnamon and nutmeg. If I didn't have the preserves, I might have added a little freshly grated ginger or, even powdered ginger.
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| Rice Pudding and Flourless Vegan Muffins |
We had a sunny day, today, with a few clouds and a high of 73F. I have had a relaxed day, so far.
I made some chicken fried rice for brunch, using leftover rice, leftover chicken, the last of the bag of coleslaw, a couple of eggs, a handful of roasted peanuts, some chili powder, and soy sauce. There's a little of the fried rice leftover, too. I haven't been doing weekly meal plans in a long time, but, there are bits and pieces of leftovers in the fridge to finish up and I took out a package of pork loin strips to thaw to make a pork curry, as well.
Today's decluttering was a shot glass. It belonged to my step-father. I don't drink alcohol and there was no need for the glass, but, I kept it. Most recently, I used it for sprouting mango seeds, but, found that glass jars worked better for that purpose. Today, I decluttered the shot glass.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Another sunny and warm day
- Good neighbors and friends
- Being able to share
- Everyday blessings we tend to take for granted
- Simply being alive (I had my lumpectomy six years ago, this month)
Today's joyful activity was enjoying all the good things neighbor S shared with me!
Tomorrow is Halloween! Although I decorated the inside of the house, a little bit, I don't expect any trick-or-treaters to call and my daughter and I are not planning to do anything for Halloween. We will probably just relax and take it easy, tomorrow.
How was your day? What are your plans for tomorrow? Will you be celebrating Halloween?
TheHub and I have hotdogs every year on Halloween. The little ghosts and goblins start ringing the doorbell right after 5 here, so we have a very simple dinner between rings. We live in a neighborhood with a lot of kids and I am one of those full candy bar houses so . . .I get lots!
ReplyDeleteHotdogs for dinner every Halloween sounds like a great tradition! Your house must be a very popular place with the trick-or-treaters if you give out full size candy bars! :D
DeleteYour mango and peach dessert looks delicious something I would enjoy and a scoop of ice cream would be just perfect I do agree. How nice to share with your neighbour like you do. I have bought sweets for the trick or treat children if any call, some years we have plenty call and sometimes not so many but I have to be prepared.
ReplyDeleteDump cakes are really easy to make, I've found! The original recipe calls for canned pie fillings, but, using fresh fruit makes it better, I think, because you can control the amount of sugar being added, etc. I enjoy cooking and being able to share food with the neighbors. Sharing is caring, right? :) I hope you have at least a few trick-or-treaters visiting you, tonight!
DeleteYou and neighbor S & N had a nice food trading day! Lots of good things being passed around.
ReplyDeleteYour dump cake sounds like it was delicious. I haven't had luck with that method. I've tried making one a couple of times but I'm doing something wrong as the top stays dry in many places.
I've eaten dump cake and it was good so I know it was something I did/didn't do.
I have a bit of some Asian brothy style soup with spinach and noodles that I made leftover for today. I will make something else to go along with it - Maybe I will make some refried beans for inside some crispy little rolled up tortillas to go with the soup. I have some leftover vegetable frittata so I may put a few little pieces of that inside of the tortillas too.
I don't like Halloween. There I said it. Out loud. lol
Yes, we did, didn't we? They are such caring, generous friends.
DeleteI've had a few occasions when the cake mix remained dry in many places. I think the trick is to spread the butter fairly evenly. I have read recipes where they say to melt the butter and pour over the cake mix, but, I don't do that. I cut up the butter and spread it. But, I try to place the pats of butter fairly close to each other, so that when they melt, there aren't that many dry areas between the spots of melted butter.
Your Asian style soup sounds good - it's soup weather over here, today! Tortillas will go well with the soup, too, I think, like spring rolls! :)
There were a few years after my mother's death, when I didn't like Halloween, myself; I felt it trivialized death, with all those decorations in the form of skeletons, skulls, gravestones with RIP written on them, etc.! Even now, I prefer to celebrate the harvest festival aspects of it: pumpkins (jack-o-lanterns are fine), scarecrows, fall leaves, etc. I like friendly witches, too, and all the candy associated with the day! :D
Hello Bless, thank you for your response to my comment last week. I just got home from taking my sister to her daughter's home. Her daughter lives half way across the country, and couldn't come to my sister as she has young children (including a 2month old). My sister will be there until the end. It is where she and her daughter want to be. How wonderful that you have been cancer free for six years! I hope you keep well. Best, Celie
ReplyDeleteHi Celie, good to know that you are home safe and your sister is with her daughter and grandchildren. It is good that they can be together, during this time. I know your sister is being surrounded with love; I am keeping you and your family in my prayers.
DeleteAll your goodies look so tempting. What were the flourless muffins like?
ReplyDeleteI've never celebrated Halloween. It wasn't a 'thing' when we were children and the big celebration was Bonfire Night on Nov 5th with bonfires, fireworks, toffee apples and hot chocolate drinks. Nowadays it seems to have changed as very few people celebrate Bonfire Night and Halloween is the big celebration. The arrangement locally is that children should only knock on doors if the house is showing an external light and most families are good at sticking to that. I usually have sweets to hand out but don't want to encourage any contact so won't be doing it this year. I've taken some sweets round to the children living next door so they're happy!
The flourless muffins were quite delicious. They had a soft, fluffy texture and quite moist. I think she used ground cashew and almond milk. I thought I tasted banana, too, but, I'm not sure. I could ask her for the recipe, if you'd like.
DeleteWe didn't celebrate Halloween when I was growing up, either. I didn't even know about it until I came to this country. Over here, too, children will usually go only to the houses that have a porch light on. I used to enjoy handing out treats to the little ones, but, have stopped doing so in recent years.
I'll pas on the muffin recipe for now thanks ... probably not the best thing to be cooking right at the start of a weight loss programme!
DeleteOops! Sorry; didn't mean to derail your efforts even before you began!
DeleteI think it was a good idea to use only half of the cake mix. Regular dump cakes, while good, are very rich. With the fresh (frozen) fruit, I bet there was just the right balance a sweetness, tartness, and spices.
ReplyDeleteA little of the cake mix goes a long way, I've discovered. I liked using the fresh fruit I had frozen myself; I think, next time, I will decrease the amount of sugar. :)
DeleteYour cake looks nice! Can you taste the difference between the mango and the peaches together? I love mango but am ambivalent about peaches and usually avoid anything other than fresh mango because it seems to lose its mangoiness! (Of course, I have never tasted home grown of either, though I did have mangoes in India, if out of season...)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lady Ella. I want you to know that I have just had another serving of the dump cake, all in the name of research, you understand, to see if I could tell the difference between the mango and the peaches! :D The flavor that came through first and foremost was the ginger from the ginger preserves! The peach slices seem to have cooked down while the mango pieces held their shape. But, these were store bought mangoes; they can't be compared to freshly picked, tree ripened mangoes. I don't think they had a lot of flavor even when they were fresh and freezing them didn't improve their flavor! But, they made a good filling for the dump cake!
DeleteThank you for sacrificing yourself to the cause! It sounds good. I think I had tinned mangoes sometime and they tasted just like peaches ... which is weird because tinned mango pulp is amazing and works so well in sorbet and ice cream or milkshake!
DeleteYou are welcome! :D Tinned mangoes are not quite the same, are they? I don't think I've tried tinned mango pulp, though! Might be something to look for and try!
DeleteI DEFINITELY recommend it! It is one of the most vivid memories of my first trip to India, aged 3; my aunt's mango shakes. I had never tasted anything like it! Somehow we brought back (or someone sent) some tins of pulp and mum made the shake once or twice when we were back in England. Dad liked it too. I should ask her what goes in. Anyway, these days we can get tinned pulp here. I have used it to make ice cream and it turned out well! The brand I seem to find here is KTC Kesar mango pulp. I don't know what a kesar mango is but I know that in India everyone swears by Alfonso mangoes. I'm just grateful to have any half-decent mango!
DeleteI looked up kesar mangoes - apparently they are grown primarily in the Gujarat area and are called "queen of mangoes" for their flavor!
DeleteNo complaints from me!
Delete:)
DeleteYou prompted me to look up Kesar/Alphonso, and I have now learned that both are highly regarded in India. As you say, kesar is grown mainly around Gujarat. Alphonsos are predominant around Maharashtra, which explains why I was familiar with them. I don't know what sort we typically get in shops around here, but I think I need to do a taste test (scientific and VERY thorough) to understand the differences between kesar and Alphonso. It's good to have goals... ;o)
DeleteIt's very good to have goals! Especially when it comes to fruits and even better, mangoes! :D You will have to do a taste test and comparison, maybe get your family's input, too? :)
DeleteGood way to celebrate Halloween with the usual goodie exchange with friends and neighbours! We are out of town with a long driveway so we don't get visitors as the local children get driven into the town! But I always have a few Coffee Crisp bars in case any should turn up, and of course there is no problem with leftovers as we both love them!
ReplyDeleteWonderful that it is now 6 years since.your lumpectomy!
It was a good way to celebrate Halloween, wasn't it? I made something to share with my neighbors, today, but, N is not home this evening and S said she's ready to have an early night, so, I will take them over, tomorrow, instead.
DeleteI had to look up Coffee Crisp bars! I have not heard or seen them here, but they sound delicious!
Thank you, Bushlady. Six years have gone by quickly and I consider each day to be a blessing. No matter what small troubles and irritations the day might hold, it is still a blessing to be alive!