Sunday, July 5, 2009

Blue Monday/Met Monday

I have a dual post again today.
and

For starters I actually completed a project,
and remembered to take a before pic,
and an after pic!

I have a cedar glider on my patio
that is so comfy,
but it was starting to look like
it had seen a better day.

I had a little help from Grampa,
he helped reinforce it,
then I sanded it and repainted it with
Behr Solid Stain in sage.
(Below is the before - see awful
it was starting to look?)
It was finished and dry just in time
for our 4th of July festivities!

I prepared a boneless turkey breast on the grill.
First I rinsed it off and patted it dry.
Applied a light layer of vegetable oil,
applied pepper and a little paprika.
I discovered that you don't really want
to salt it. The brine that it is packaged in
is quite salty already.
I snipped a few herbs from the patio
and placed them randomly around on it.
I used Sage, of course, some Marjoram,
and a bit of Thyme.
I placed it on prepared tin foil.
Sealed it up and double wrapped her.
(Just a note....place a drip pan underneath
if you want to catch any stray juices for gravy later.)
I'm from the old school, I keep it on the grill
until it reaches 180 on the
instant read thermometer.

We had the turkey breast, cheesy potatoes.
You know the ones made with hash browns
and two kinds of cheese,
(I placed them in a tin foil pan right onto the grill also.)
potato buns, and a Wild Rice Broccoli Salad.
The recipe is to follow.
See, the turkey breast turned out beautifully.
Juicy, not too dry,
because it is wrapped in foil.

I use the Cultivated Wild rice, not the cracked,
for this recipe.

I dice and add a red pepper (I used an anaheim ancient sweet pepper -
but you can use a red bell pepper as well,
a medium red or vidalia onion,
broccoli flowerettes cut into smaller bite size pieces,
and slivered almonds to taste
(that should be toasted, if you have the time),
to the cooked and cooled Wild Rice.
Then I add 3/4 bottle of
Girard's Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing,
(you could make your own with the Ramen Noodle packet)
one minced garlic toe, and a palmful of
Italian Seasonings.

See how pretty it is?

Jacob wanted the bottled Coca-Cola from Sam's.
(It turned out that it is from Mexico,
so it processed with sugar, rather than corn syrup.)
Just like the good old days.

I'm using my new dishes from The Pottery Barn.
Although the plates look like they are paper,
they actually are china, and my cup
appears to be plastic, it actually is glass.
Everyone got a kick out of that.
We are so green....

I hope you give this salad a try.
Everytime I take it somewhere I am asked for the recipe.
It actually tastes better the next day.

I'm off to check out the other Blue Monday offerings
and all of the great projects of

Robyn


22 comments:

Michelle @ Sweet Something Design said...

Wow, that looks great!! Yummy MM! I've seen the 'paper' plate before in melamine...its cute!
Happy MM!

Sandi@ Rose Chintz Cottage said...

Hi Robyn,
That looks yummy; love the colour of the veggies! The glider is very nice too. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful Blue Monday.

Unknown said...

That looks like a yummy turkey burger! And you did a great job on your glider!

Great blog!

~Liz

Kammy said...

Robyn !
You crack me up girl ! Yes, so green....LOL ! That turkey recipe
looks great and I have never thought of putting that on the grill....must try.....We grill just about everything else all summer long - I love summer !
HUgs ~ Kammy

Stacey said...

Your glider is perfect. That meal looks delicious!

SmilingSally said...

I took care of the bad link. Your bench looks like it still has many years of good sitting time in it, and the food looks yummy. Thanks for sharing. Happy Blue Monday.

santamaker said...

Nice job on your bench! It looks brand new!
Enjoyed your recipe for the turkey breast on the BBQ, I will look forward to trying it.
What fun plates!

Becky K. said...

I love that your plates and cups look like disposables, but aren't. That is fun.

Great job on the glider.

Happy Monday.

Becky K
Hospitality Lane

Mary Bergfeld said...

Robyn, your salad looks delicious. I really love the bench and the work you've done to refresh your glider.

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Glider looks great. The food looks so good - now I am hungry.
Glenda

Marie said...

Fabulous bench make-over! And that turkey sandwich looks amazing. Thank you for sharing!

Blessings,
Marie
http://emmacallsmemama.com

Brenda Pruitt said...

It's lovely! I've been looking myself for a comfy glider.
Brenda

Marie Reed said...

Scrummy! This sounds absolutely divine! I'm starving now!

I think that the glider looks so nice in sage! that was just the perfect color choice!

Terry said...

Howdy
Happy Blue Monday to you .
Wow your bench turned out wonderful.
Thank you for sharing the photos.
Yummy meal you prepared.
Made me hungry :)
Have a marvelous week.
Happy Trails

RobinfromCA said...

Love the new color of your glider! And your lunch looks yummy! I'm going to start looking at the labels on my Coke bottles and see if I can find the sugar v. the corn syrup.

Happy Blue Monday!
Robin@Miscellaneous Thoughts
Stop by, I'm having a giveaway!

Salmagundi said...

The salad recipe does sound good, but I wonder if I can find the cultivated wild rice. I remember one time when I was teaching quilting in Minnesota they gave me a goodie basket with all kinds of wonderful rice in it. I've never been able to find more in our grocery stores. If I wasn't so lazy, I probably could find and order it on the internet. Thanks for bringing up those memories of that Minnesota trip. Sally

Fifi Flowers said...

Happy Monday!!! Looks like you have a yummy meal to eat while sitting on that bench!

Anonymous said...

Your glider turned out so nice. And it was ready in time to be used for the celebration! Your recipe and photos look great.

Kathy b

Unknown said...

You glider looks so pretty! Your recipes look so yummy!

Thanks for sharing!

Tina

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

Oh, great job Robyn! The color is so pretty and you did a fantastic job. I always love that minnesota rice! Yummy,the menu looks great! Cindy

Cass @ That Old House said...

Those "paper plates" are amazing! How great is that -- I'd love those, as I hate eating off paper plates -- I'd rather do the dishes!

The glider looks fabulous. I like the color you chose; the soft sage green goes so beautifully outdoors.
Thanks!
Cass

Kathi~Lavender, Lace and Thyme said...

Oh num! I am so excited to try your recipe! I just made the italian dressing pasta salad but the wild rice sounds awesome! Cool plates!