The Unlonely Fruit

Which fruit is never lonely?

You guessed it--pears. That was kind of a giveaway.

Speaking of giveaways, we are almost at 100 followers. It seems only fair that once we reach 100, we should do a giveaway. Once we reach 100, we'll let you know the specifics. If you're not already following, make sure you start so you can enter to win.


I've been busy updating our little corner of the blogosphere (my excuse for this short little post), so check out our "About the Pear" section for more details.

All my best,
Robin

Photo Love

A weekend recap seems awkward at this point in the week, but I am just now getting around to sorting my pictures from Easter weekend. I am obsessive compulsive meticulous about my picture organization, hence the delay. I can't stand all that digital space being cluttered up by bad photos. One must edit and organize.

Here are some photos from our weekend in the Black Hills. We didn't see the hills, mostly just the inside of the in-laws' home. This is fine, because the house is furnished with sweet antiques and decked in turquoise.

We couldn't get enough of this little creature. She was relentless with the bird feeder and kept coming back for more. Seemed to be expecting some kits judging by her size. Is it weird that baby squirrels are called kits? It's also correct to call them pups or kittens. Or you can stick with baby squirrel.

We were due for a little time outside, so we bundled up for a bit.

All my best,
Robin

Me v. Chocolate Easter Bunny

I received a delightful hunk of dark chocolate in the shape of a bunny for Easter. It's not one of those chincy hollow rabbits, either. This thing is made of solid, good for you in small doses, rich dark chocolate. Therein lies the problem. It's too thick and hard to just bite, and flakes when I cut it with a knife. Imagine me standing in the kitchen, chopping desperately at the innocent bunny to no avail. I'm thinking of a chocolate chisel. I've even considered melting it slightly. Pathetic or devoted? You can weigh in on that, but remember, we are talking about dark chocolate here!

While we're talking about food, let's move on to this post's actual content. I constantly hear people saying they always make the same meals, or they hate going to the store and not knowing what to get to make meals. We don't have that issue at the Anderson household (see "wife with overflowing cookbook and recipe ideas"). But I was thinking, "What could help if I did have that issue?"

This is the old school method we use: Every weekend, I find 3-5 recipes I want to make for dinner that week. I pull out the recipes, make a list of the ingredients we don't have, add on our weekly staples, and send the list with my husband to the store. This takes about 15 minutes, and the shopping trip takes 30-45. Pretty quick.

What if you don't have a stockpile of recipes, or don't feel like sorting through the old cookbook, or don't want to make a list? Here's where your blogging host comes in: Go to Monthly Meal Planner. It does all the planning for you. There's a monthly plan for a meal a day, and you can just print the grocery lists from the site for your desired number of days. It's pretty slick and best of all, it's free. Here's a sample of recipes from their website. My family would east most of them, but I would have to figure out what zuppa is first.

Weekly Snapshot

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Breakfast for Dinner	Cheesy Rigatoni with a Green Salad	Greek Chicken with Cretan Wedding Rice	Mediterranean Pita Sandwiches	Zuppa Toscana and a Baguette	Pasta Primavera with Italian Turkey Sausage	BLT Pizza

I'm a sucker for free solutions, and this seems like it would be something I would use during a busy week or when I'm not feeling inspired to cook.

All my best,
Robin

Chicken Salad Recipe

We return to our regularly scheduled blogging after a short hiatus. We took a weekend trip to see family this weekend, and I just couldn't find the energy to get to posting. But I'm back. So, to make up for the lack of recipe on Friday, here's one:

Chicken Salad with Apple and Basil
Original recipe from Real Simple

Ingredients:

• 4 6 oz. boneless chicken breasts
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup lime juice (from 2-3 limes)
  
• 1 tablespoon white wine or rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and light green parts)
  
• 2 Granny Smith apples, diced (peeled if desired)
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped roasted peanuts
  
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh mint (left this out)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil (gotta be fresh)

Directions:

1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Pound it to an even thinness.
2. Place the chicken in a large saucepan and add water to cover by ½ inch. Add 3 teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and bring to a gentle simmer.
3. Cook until no trace of pink remains, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the lime juice, vinegar, and sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the scallions and apples and toss.
5. Drain, pat dry, and dice the chicken. Add it to the apple mixture with the peanuts, mint, basil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper.
6. Toss and divide among individual plates

Hope you had a blessed Easter! We sure did. These are some cookies my MIL made and I love the vintage look, along with the vintage bowl~ couldn't resist snapping a couple shots. Or eating one. Okay, maybe two... and some chocolates. It's Easter, what do you expect?

Robin

Silverware Sneak Peek

I haven't decided how cool or odd it is to hang spray painted silverware on burlap in my dining room yet. I think I like it, but give it a week or two.



We used old silverware from a garage sale, a canvas (gaudily painted by yours truly) and frame we owned, some ribbon, fabric flowers, and some heavy duty glue. The total cost was under $5. Not too shabby for the price. Or should I say, how shabby and chic. I plan to flank it with some other thrifty goodness, but you'll have to stay tuned for that. I can't overwhelm you with too much inspiring decor at once. That's code for "it's not done yet."


Can't wait to get this up on the wall. Thanks for stopping in to check out our latest project!

Paint Chip Notepad

Barb is back with a quick and easy tutorial that even the least likely crafters can put together. These would be perfect for an Easter Gift, a May Day surprise, or a small something for Teacher Appreciation week.

How often do you need a little piece of paper to write down a quick phone number or email address or grocery list? Well here's a quick and fun solution that you can create and carry in your purse--a paint chip note pad. To make a note pad, you'll need:

• One nine inch paint sample card
• small sheets of plain paper for inside (3 3/4" x 1 3/4")
• Hole punch
• Brads
• Stickers/other embellishments

1. Score the paint sample card at 1 1/4" and 5 1/4", then fold on score lines
2. Center the small pieces of paper under the short fold.
3. Punch two holes through the paint sample card and papers.
4. Insert brads into punched holes. Decorate as desired.

On a final note, we have entered a giveaway over at EisyMorgan that we hope to win. She is having a 30th Birthday bash. How fun!

Linked up at:
Naturally Me Creations
Be Different Act Normal
Craft Envy
Flamingo Toes

Read the Fine Print

It's that time of the week again. The one where I bombard you with technology related tips, tricks, or sites and pray that you'll use em. It's okay if you don't, but do check them out when you're ready. By ready, I mean when you have a few minutes to peruse and feel a bit adventurous.


This week's mini-theme: Reading. Not because I'm a teacher, because reading is good for your brain. And because I like to read online. I'm a teacher and I started a sentence with "and." You like it. Hope you like these next ideas.

Read free books online! You do not need to have an e-reader for this, just an internet connection and a computer-like device. Read Print has online books you can read for free. The ads are distracting at first, but the convenience factor, along with the price, make it a site that might be worth checking out. You can also access short stories and poems.


Now that I've got you reading, or thinking about reading, maybe you realize you don't have the time to do it. No problem, if you've got Read It Later. It's an extension that you can install (by just clicking on the word "Install") to your Internet browser. It allows you to save pages you're interested in instead of cluttering up your bookmarks. This works great for pages you want to read just once and will probably not come back to. Read It Later puts a little icon into your toolbar that you can click on when you've found a page you'd like to read but just can't at the moment. It will save it for you and you can read it later, hence the name. Once you've read it, you can check it off your reading list and it deletes. Pretty swift.