Sylvia's Scenario

Today, wa s a soup-kind-of-day...you guessed it:  rain, rain, rain.  But this dinner tasted so good, who cares about the rain?   I'll probably make this recipe again for a holiday celebration because look how festive this looks.  It has the red and green holiday theme going on. I really love the crispy prosciutto that you sprinkle on top to serve it. Along with the chopped parsley, it gives it that red and green holly, jolly feeling.  I think it would be perfect for a first course during Christmas dinner.  This was a pretty easy recipe, too, and so flavorful. This is a recipe from   Hannah Freese, RD  so you know it uses lots of healthy veggies in it and uses full fat coconut milk to make it creamy.  It doesn't have a "coconut" flavor at all, though.  Since it uses full fat coconut milk, it is very filling, satisfying and dairy-free.  You won't need crackers to go along with this recipe.  The crispy prosciutto is way better ...

I am happy to announce that the top recipe for 2020 on my blog was one of  Hannah Freese, RD's  recipe that I make over and over again,  Pumpkin Bean Chili .  Apparently, other people liked it, as well, because it was the #1 most popular recipe on my blog for 2020.   I make this recipe a couple times per month.  I would say that this recipe has taken the place of spaghetti in our house.  We use to eat spaghetti pretty often and it would always be a staple dinner.  Now, it's the pumpkin chili.  Of course, it's been chili-type weather since I started Hannah's method of eating in September.  But interestingly, this is the most recent of the top three popular recipes, yet it got the most hits.  I don't eat pasta anymore and I cook my own pinto beans when I make this recipe.  Pinto beans cook fast so I can start them in the morning and they are ready to add to the chili by dinnertime.  But of course, you can use canned pin...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. It's amazing how hard we work for this one day of the year and suddenly it's over. Now, here we are, the day after Christmas and I'm still absorbing it all. There were so many things I loved about Christmas this year including my new Christmas cocktail I wanted share. This drink was a very festive addition to a wonderful Christmas evening. My family came over to our house including Lauren; my sister and her husband; my niece and nephew and their families and we had a holly, jolly time. Put it this way, nobody left hungry. But we did more than just eat, of course. We played games  and we opened presents - starting in the morning when Lauren came over and we also had breakfast together before getting ready for the evening.  When everyone was here, we opened more presents. When my extended family gets together for Christmas, we do a white elephant gift exchange. A white elephant gift exchange is when yo...

We are having soup weather.  Not because it is cold but because it is wet...surprise, surprise.  This is Seattle, after all.  We had really nice weather for a long time, dry and sunny and Bruce even went golfing last week but the rain always returns eventually.  The past couple of days, it has been pouring all day. On Sunday, I went to our local "downtown" in West Seattle called The Junction because the Farmers Market was going on (in the pouring rain but it's held rain or shine year around every Sunday.)  I also wanted to get my presents wrapped at a fund raiser that was going on.  I took eight gifts to get wrapped and they did a gorgeous job.  It was for an organization called  Furry Faces Foundation  that helps low income people stay together with their pets when they can't afford to do so.  I was happy to make a donation and get my presents wrapped at the same time.  There were 3-4 ladies doing the wrapping and the gift...

Our house is aglow with Christmas spirit after today.  I spent yesterday putting away the Thanksgiving decorations and spent all day today putting out the Christmas stuff.  I was able to get all the Christmas decorations done in one day because we put the tree up last week which really helps.  I put up lots of lights this year because those copper wire lights that I discovered last year are still my ultimate favorite things .  They are on the fireplace mantel and in the dinning room table centerpiece. These are the copper wire lights that are run by batteries but there are also ones that you can plug in.  I have that type at the entrance way, in the kitchen, and in the bathroom. These lights really eliminate the need for candles which is fine by me.  Or you can use the battery operated candles which I also like using. I have a couple in the windows in our front, main floor guest room ...