Pineapple Marmalade

The Pineapple Marmalade in Wild Olive's Jam of the Month Club is finally finished!

The lines on the pineapple did not turn out well, but the smile was a little better this time.

Orange Dreamsicle Salad

I recently found the recipe for Orange Dreamsicle Salad on Pinterest, and decided to make it tonight.

Orange Dreamsicle Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 box orange Jell-O
• 1 box instant vanilla pudding
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup cold water
• 1 Cool Whip 8 oz.
• 1 can mandarin oranges 14 oz. , drained
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl combine orange Jell-O and boiling water.
2. Whisk until Jell-O is dissolved.
3. Add cold water and allow to chill for 15 minutes in refrigerator.
4. Slowly whisk in vanilla pudding mix until smooth and chill for another 15-20 minutes or until it becomes slightly thickened.
5. Fold in Cool Whip, mandarin oranges and marshmallows.

I found the dish to be a tad bit on the sweet side, but it was perfect for Tom.

Blueberry Jelly

So, I've completed the next jam in Wild Olive's Jam of the Month Club, Blueberry Jelly.

As usual, the smiles didn't turn out as well as expected, but I'm getting used to that.

Breaded and Fried Tilapia

After searching for recipes for tilapia, I found this one, which had great reviews. We tried it tonight.

Gatorbek's Breaded and Fried Tilapia

INGREDIENTS

• 4 medium tilapia fillets
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne, to taste
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• salt and pepper
• ¼ cup vegetable oil (or frying oil of choice)
• 1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS

1. In a pie plate, lightly beat eggs with mayonnaise.
2. Combine dry ingredients (bread crumbs, onion powder, mustard, cayenne, garlic powder, Old Bay, and S&P) in another pie plate.
3. Over medium-high heat, heat oil and butter in a large, heavy skillet.
4. Dip fish in egg mixture, then dredge through bread crumbs.
5. Place in hot oil and fry until done, 2-3 minutes per side or until fish flakes easily.
6. Serve immediately.

I used Panko breadcrumbs (which was all I had), so the breading didn't stick as well as I would have hoped, but the dish was still quite tasty. Tom really liked it, too, and said it would be okay with him if I added it to our regular rotation.

Bacon Cheeseburger Potato Casserole

I was trying to find a new recipe that I could use ground beef for, and found this one in a Pillsbury newsletter that I get. It's one of the few that I had most of the ingredients for, and they didn't seem too objectionable from a Tom point-of-view.

Bacon Cheeseburger Potato Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped (¼ cup)
• ¾ cup ketchup
• 4 slices American cheese
• 1 bag (16 oz) Cascadian Farm™ Spud Puppies™ frozen organic crispy golden potatoes
• 4 slices precooked bacon, coarsely chopped (¼ cup)
• ¼ cup dill pickle slices (halved if slices are large)

Steps

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 8-inch square (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until brown; drain. Stir in ketchup.
2. Spoon beef mixture into baking dish; top with cheese slices in single layer.
3. Meanwhile, place frozen potatoes on ungreased large cookie sheet; bake 10 minutes. Top casserole evenly with potatoes.
4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through and potatoes are golden brown. Sprinkle with bacon during last 5 minutes of bake time. Top with pickle slices.

I omitted the pickles, which we didn't have, but added 2 tablespoons of mustard, which was listed in the Expert Tips on the recipe page. Tom loved it, I thought it was decent - maybe a little too much ketchup?

Grapefruit Jam

The next jam in Wild Olive's Jam of the Month Club is Grapefruit Jam.

The brown dots give me a watermelon vibe, not a grapefruit one, but nonetheless, this is a cute motif. I'm averaging one every two days, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up this pace.

Raspberry Jam

The next motif in Wild Olive's Jam of the Month Club is Raspberry Jam.

It was hard for me to see that this one was raspberry, even though I did it. I still had difficulty with the smile, but I'm not going to stop on to the next.

Cherry Preserves

Next up on Wild Olive's Jam of the Month Club is Cherry Preserves.

I'm having a hard time with the smiles, and I think I'd like to see outlines around the individual elements, but I'm still liking them.

Orange Marmalade

So, with the Coronavirus pandemic, I finally decided to start working on a project that I've had laying around the house since Christmas. Back in high school, I used to do little cross-stitch kits, so, as a Christmas gift, Wanda gave me everything I needed to cross-stitch Wild Olive's Jams of the Month. Thread, fabric and patterns all printed out, ready for me to jump right back into the craft. I decided to start with the first one, Orange Marmalade.

It's smaller than I expected, but I think it's cute. I'm ready to get started on the next one.