Cooking Thursday

I have such a good recipe for you today.  Is it good for you?  No!  But I think it's ok for an occasional treat and it is so very good.

This is a cinnamon bread, that has the gooey taste and texture of cinnamon rolls. It starts with frozen bread dough, so it's easy to make. Try it - you'll like it!

Cinnamon Roll Bread

1 loaf frozen bread dough
6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
powdered sugar frosting

Place frozen dough in large loaf pan and allow to thaw and rise until dough is just over the edge of the pan.
Melt butter and stir it together with the corn syrup. Place in a large flat bowl or pan.
Stir together the white sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Remove dough from loaf pan and make 5 deep slices, diagonally across the top of the dough, cutting almost but not quite through to the bottom. (It will look like a mess at this point, but don't worry.)
Place dough into the melted butter mix, flip over and let butter get into the slits you cut.
Spread sugar mix over the dough, ensuring the outside and all crevices are coated.
Place parchment paper in loaf pan, making sure the parchment drapes over the edge to allow easy removal of bread. Spray parchment with non-stick spray.
Place dough into parchment lined loaf pan, also to rest for 15 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking frequently at the end.
Allow to cool and frost with powdered sugar frosting.

3D printing

You may remember that a few weeks ago our son Andy and his wife Nikki came up from Kentucky so we could do family photos.  While here he snuck a little surprise into our houses.
He has a 3D printer and made these...

You may recognize this character as Shaun the Sheep, a British animated comedy series.  Our granddaughters all loved that show and Andy made this - it's a toilet paper holder.  He had it snuck into their bathrooms.

and we found this little guy in our spare bathroom.  

Aren't they cute?  They gave us all a laugh.

Walking the Grand River Trail

Bob and I have been trying to get out and enjoy some time outside before the weather really changes and we don't want to be out there.
We're really blessed in our area by a trail system that's been set up to run near the Grand River for many miles. It's a continuous trail that's 36 miles long, from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven and is designed for walking and biking, and in some areas kayaking and canoeing.

We've walked several sections of this trail, and went walking on it again recently. We did a section we've walked before, but went a little further this time.

Look at this beautiful walkway. It's paved with bridges over streams and marshy areas.

A pretty stream we crossed.

Walking along the river.  Someone was fishing out there.

Getting closer to the city, we could see this apartment complex that was built to look like a castle.

Unique mushrooms we saw along the way.

A big fallen tree we saw along the way.

There were still a lot of wild flowers out there.

More wildflowers.  

It was a great way to enjoy sunshine and God's beautiful creation!

Artprize

Grand Rapids has a fun event that's been happening every Fall since 2009.  It's called ArtPrize and I've been able to take part in it for most of those years. It's an international art competition that lasts for about 2 weeks and brings close to 1 million people into the city. There are art pieces installed all over the city. Many of them are outside, but they are also in hotels, banks, a performance center...  This year there are over 1000 art entries in 150 venues.  People can vote for the pieces they like the best and the artists get various prizes.  Some pieces are purchased and stay in the city.

Last week Bob and I spent a day downtown, walking all over and checking out some of the art.  It's impossible to see it all!
Here's just a few of the pieces we saw.

It was a beautiful sunny day, temperature was 72 degrees.  Here's a little view of Grand Rapids and a sculpture/fountain that was along our walkway.

This bottle is about 4 feet tall, made of corks to commemorate the USA's 250th birthday. The artist said each cork has its own stains and stories, they come from many countries and are put together to form something beautiful, just like the country.

This motorcycle was made by the man standing behind it, it looks like a steampunk sculpture, but it's actually a working cycle and he drives it all over.

Paintings; That train looks like a photo, but someone actually painted it.

This is one of the most unique things we saw.  It covered a whole hall.  This person painted every single thing she ate for the whole year of 2025.  Can you imagine? 

This is the Mackinac Bridge made out of K'nex.

This artist had 5 of these different Mandala's all made of binder clips. This one used 1365 clips to make this one piece.

This first one is a pencil drawing. The second is ink, but is done with only one line, from beginning to end.

A wooden sculpture of sand hill cranes. This was about 4 feet tall.

This is a dragon made of drift wood.

Can you believe this is an art entry?  An upside down car!  Art is in the eye of the beholder they say.  I don't call this art though...

I think this is art too.  This is one of my favorite spots in the city, where an old building is reflected on a new one.

A photo from one of the bridges over the Grand River.

We ended our day by taking the promenade walk along the river.

There was more art along the river walk.

One last view across the river.

It was a good time, enjoying the art and walking in the city.

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

The recipe I'm sharing today is a little different from my usual recipe, because it's for canning.  But some of you are canners and may be interested...  Last week I canned 24 pints of salsa - we'll be set for a while!  Anyway, this is an easy and good recipe for it; you can make it mild or hot and it's a great way to use that summer produce!

Salsa

1/4 bushel tomatoes (about 13 pounds)

2-3 large onions, chopped

4 green peppers, chopped

5-7 jalapeno peppers depending on spice level you want, chopped and seeded. If you want your salsa hotter, leave some seeds in.

6 teaspoons sugar

6 teaspoons salt

6 teaspoons vinegar

3 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons garlic salt

2-3 large cans of tomato paste

Place tomatoes in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then put in ice water. Remove tomatoes, peel and core them. Place in large pan, stir in onions green peppers jalapeno peppers, sugar, salt vinegar, garlic and garlic salt. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour.

Stir in tomato paste to reach desired thickness.
Ladle into pint jars and process in hot water bath for 30 minutes.
Makes about 12 pints.

Wordless Wednesday

 (Fungus growing on an old log)

Come walk with me...

The weather has changed here making my morning walks a little different.  It's cooler, with temps often in the low 60's. The sunrise is later which makes everything look a little different when I go out.  It makes walking much more comfortable and the change in lighting makes me want to take more pictures as I walk.  So here's a few from some recent morning walks.

These are hard to see, but in a field near us, there have been some cranes most every morning.  I know my friends in Florida see them frequently, but they aren't as common here and are fun to see.

A little further down the road, the horses were out and grazing.

On this morning, I decided to walk to an area near us that is part of the State Recreation/Forest Area.  It's an 830 acre parcel, next to the Grand River that is mostly untouched, and is managed by the DNR for wildlife.  You can walk back on this trail and are surrounded by woods and marsh.

Here's a unique plant I saw along the way. It's called Virgins Bower and is a native climbing vine.

There was lots of goldenrod blooming and this field of it was at eye level with me.

I saw lots of animal tracks along the path.

aren't these the cutest mushrooms?

On my way back home I came upon this common sight in our area, lots of people have chickens. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"  I'm not sure, but it joined a friend on the other side.

The next pictures are from the next day.  It was a misty morning with beautiful light!

Isn't this a beautiful scene?  This is why I love the mornings this time of year.

One more photo from a little further down the road.

I hate to think of the weather changing, but for now I'm enjoying these mornings!

Fall Garden

When I was a little girl, my Grandpa often said this little poem to me: "Mary, Mary, how does your garden grow?"  I thought of that as I was gathering pictures for this post. Things are fading in the garden this time of year.  Most of our flowers have quit blooming but there are still some new things popping out and a few others are giving us a second round of blooms.  Here's a few pics of what things are looking like in our yard.

Our garden is mostly flowers, but we are still getting a few tomatoes.

The morning glories were so slow to bloom this year, but finally they're blooming!  

 

These are called Fall Crocus. They send up green shoots in the Spring then completely die back until Fall, when these beautiful purple blooms pop up.

In the back by our storage shed, the phlox are looking kind of sad, but are still blooming.

Next to the phlox are these asters which are just starting to put on a show!

The spirea and the daisies are blooming for the second time.

The sedum are turning pink!

The hydrangeas are still blooming.

The ferns are starting to get yellow.

The woodland garden is going strong.

In this bed there are hardy cyclamen blooming for the first time this year.

This is a new path Bob put in our side yard, and he's been busy planting new things along the edges.

This is another new area that Bob put in last Fall.  It's hidden away in a back corner and it's fun to walk back and see things growing.

We have a lot of hosta's, a plant that grows well in our shady yard. This one is called an Empress Wu, one of our favorites because it's so big.

This is called Joe Pye Weed.  It's another one that pops up and flowers in the Fall.

The roses are blooming again after taking about a month off.

and the mushrooms are still popping up all over!

Last, but not least is one of my favorites - the cosmo flowers. These also bloom at the end of summer.

I'm enjoying each of them for as long as I can!