Spicy Sautéed Vegetables...and an Amazing Weekend!

It all started Saturday, when my daughter gave me a huge bag of mixed vegetables from our favorite produce market...one of those fabulous deals that her m-in-law discovered, while she was here from Italy. $1.00 for a hug bag of vegetables, all mixed...zucchini, peppers, onions, some iceberg lettuce...a huge bag, no joking. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the veggies, except, they had a few bruises here, and there, and maybe starting to get a bit over ripe on some of the peppers that made the long green peppers turn orange. So, what to do with them?...what is not to do with them, but cook them up, and the best way, is to saute them with the onion, garlic, in some nice fruity extra virgin olive oil, and some great spices...don't forget the red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper, and some nice sea salt, and you got yourself, a FEAST!...well, I prepped up all these great veggies, and took them over to a friends house with all the yummy things that I brought from Lora's to share with her, and her brother who is visiting their mom, from out of state.

I'm linking this to Tuesday Night Supper Club # 40... Christy @Fudge Ripple

Also made some pork ribs, marinated in Worcestershire sauce, paprika, cumin, black pepper, and garlic powder, and baked to perfection, in a 375 degree F. oven for about 1 1/2 hrs. till tender. (These were also the ribs my daughter gave me that were in her freezer from my son, who is the on-again, off-again vegetarian.) Lora did not want to deal with these because she said it's been in the freezer too long. Yea, right!!! ...since December?...so that makes it 5 months?...still like fresh, no freezer burns, so why not cook them up. They were so tender, fall off the bone, delicious!...So that's what you do for your friends...you share!...and you cook for them.

These sweet potatoes are my friend Dianne's creation. She cuts them in half, drizzles a little olive oil on them and sprinkles them with cinnamon, and adds bits of garlic...encloses the potatoes in aluminum foil and bakes it in the toaster oven on 350 degrees, F. till tender, which is at least 1 hr. or longer.

Saffron Risotto with Shrimp, Zucchini, and Peas....recipe, on this page

This is Lora's creation, and she makes this just about once a week. She does not post it on her blog because her blog is mostly about cakes, and desserts. She does not like leftovers, as a rule, unless it's spaghetti, and meatballs, lasagne, or pizza leftovers and I get her leftovers to share with friends...and truly this is gourmet, and yummy, even reheated. Just add a few drops of water, and heat on top of the stove. Now, on to the next fabulous things!

So, here it is...still Saturday afternoon, and I'm at home on the beach...inside, just "chilling"...and my daughter calling me and asking me what I'm doing...
I tell her, I'm waiting for 2 packages. One from Christine @Christine's Pantry, for the amazing and generous giveaway gift that I one, and also for Gina's@SPcookie queen yummy Cranberry and Chocolate Chunk Cookies that I bid on for Becky's Bake Sale @ Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves for the American Cancer Society.
Lora tells me, "why don't you go down to the pool, or the beach and just sit and relax, or go swimming, to exercize your bad ankle"...which is healing so well, by the way! So I did go down, and I'm glad I did, before deciding to go to my friends house to cook dinner for us.
This is at 4:00PM and the sky, the ocean is exactly the way it looks on the photo...and even clearer, and prettier.

I started to take a walk in the sand, and the water, up to my ankles, which really was a nice therapy for my ankle.
When you walk by yourself, you get immersed into your thoughts and as for me, I get a lot of that, thinking, and thanking God how fortunate I am to have such a beautiful family, who cares about me...friends that I can visit...now that I'm a lot better and can walk without "hobbling" around, and my true love and passion is to cook, which does not take a lot of my time, and "thrifting" to use up all the things that can be converted into fabulous meals.

As you can see the palm trees in the background, are from the same scene, I used for my blog template at sunset.
This is about 1 mile from my condo, it's a golf course, behind the trees. Now, it's about 6:00PM...time to check my mail, and head on over to my friend's house.

The packages were left downstairs in the mail room by
my mailbox, on the shelf...hoping that it wasn't there on
Friday already, because it had cookies in one of the boxes. Don't you just get so excited when your receive
a package?...Well I was right, I received two packages.

I opened the box first...
from Gina, that had the delicious mouthwatering Cranberry and Chocolate Chunk Cookies,
with a weet personalized card, and it truly touched my heart to be so blessed to have such wonderful friends.

I could not resist but took a bite of one of the cookies.
She had them wrapped so nice with layers of waxed paper, and in a Ziploc plastic containers. (2)...one I gave to Lora, and tied with a pretty black and white ribbon. So sweet, so caring!!!

Here's my second gift...from Christine.
The most exciting, and amazing little pot that does so much, The All purpose...multi and versatile pot, I've ever seen. So beautiful, sturdy, and truly a great quality of shiny stainless steel. She also included a personalized note, I really feel so blessed and so happy...I actually felt this was a perfect Mother's Day gift.

Now you see what I mean?...The Vented Multi-Pot
I own such great pots and pans, gadgets galore, but never have I owned anything so versatile as this. Christine has such a good heart to do her own giveaway.
Such a generous sweet person, I truly appreciate it!

This awesome little pot even has the measurement on the inside with the American and the Metric measurement, as well.

Thank you Gina...and thank you Christine!

Please visit their blog and check for yourself all the wonderful things you will find on their blogs. I have recently met Christine, and have followed her blog immediately, and I'm truly glad I did. As for Gina, I met her about the time I started my blog, which is almost a year ago.
Check out their blog, and say Hi...and don't forget to follow!
Will catch up on the rest of the weekend activities. Mother's Day was so wonderful....I hope all the mommies, and grandmothers had the best day...ever, and hope you enjoyed your special day...with lots of love, and laughter!