camera best practice

so i just recently thought (wishfully) that i was in need of a new, fabulous camera upgrade from my 2 year old canon powershot sd940 when i got a "communication error" every time i plugged in my camera to the macbook pro. well i got to googling only to find out that it wasn't the camera, the cord, or the card...it was me! 


apparently a good best practice is to delete your photos from your camera every so often so that you can free up space for your camera to "think." that being said, you better be backing up your computer in case your hard drive crashes and you are without your photos! however  if you can't get your photos on to your computer, i guess that doesn't help either! so in my googling my new camera using advice would be two things...keep your card under control and buy an external hard drive or back up to the cloud! 

new puppy treats!

here are some of the newest puppy treats out there! i am keeping my eye out to see when our petsmart starts to stock them but for those who love the amazingly healthy blue buffalo dog treats, here is a new one to try!


Blue Buffalo Stix

p.diddy's creole

patti bass is an amazing cook and this is a creole dish she treated us with when we were recently with them at the farm! 


p.diddy's creole
what you need...
1/4 cup veg. oil
3 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped mild onion
2 cups chopped green pepper
1 cup raisins (she used california raisns)
1/2 cup chopped parsley (or 1/4 cup dried)
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 cup chili sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp curry powder
3 large bay leaves
salt & pepper to taste
kielbasa 
shrimp
white rice
sliced toasted almonds


what to do...
in a large stockpot, heat the oil. add the celery, onion, and green pepper and cook until transparent. add raisins, parsley, tomatoes, chili sauce, thyme, curry powder, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.  simmer covered for about 30 minutes or until all veggies are tender and sauce is thickened. discard the bay leaves. 


cook kielbasa on the grill or saute in a large skillet until cooked. keep warm.  bring a large pot of water to a boil. toss in the shrimp and cook until barely done (about 3 min). drain and add to the creole mixture.  serve over white rice with almonds and sausage. 


this makes a great dish to freeze (minus the rice obviously) if you make it for one night and have the rest left over. you can also substitute the kielbasa for the turkey version which has much much much less fat in it and with all the good flavors tastes nearly the same! 


enjoy!

pesto twist

a great suggestion i recently got, try walnuts or pecans instead of pine nuts in your pesto...for me with a massive basil plant, we are doing just that since i can't seem to keep pine nuts in the house! walnuts were a success and pecans are next! also great for those folks with pine nut allergies! taste is quite similar surprisingly!  go ahead, try changing up the pine nuts in this pesto recipe to something else! 

besties