Necessity is the mother of invention

I finished making the last of the cherry jam this morning and also did 2 batches of blueberry. You can imagine the color of the skin around my fingernails after all that - a nice purple. So I painted my nails lavender to set it off. I can't remember the last time I painted my fingernails - I know it was well before we brought The Gidge home. There was a time where I had them done every 2 weeks without fail, but I found that there are more important things to spend my money on than that. Namely, good food for me and the zoo. And The Man, I guess LOL

Blog Title Reason #1:

No matter what I tried, I could not keep The Gidge out of the cat boxes. Yesterday morning, I finally went and bought 2 baby gates to block off the bedroom with the secondary litter box and also the second bedroom, which is where she likes to "go" when she's being a BAD DOG.

I also bought 3 window screens, some screws, and L brackets. The Man thought I was nuts, but the guy at Ace Hardware thinks I should patent this idea. When I got home with my loot, I screwed the screens together, put the brackets on to resemble feet, stretched the side screens as far as they'd go, and set it in place.

I then trained Baby and Vester that it's okay to jump over the baby gates and the screens by throwing treats and favorite toys inside until they got in and out easily.

I rule - The Man drools.

Blog Title Reason #2:

Once again, I found a recipe to tweak on Epicurious, but I didn't have an ingredient. So I substituted. I searched all over the fridge and cabinets to come up with something to use, but this was all I could find. You'll figure it out when you get that far, believe me.

Sometimes I scare me. Actually, most of the time I scare me.

Orange Roughy with Dijon-Butter Sauce

Based on a recipe on Epicurious.com

1 pound orange roughy fillets

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tsp lemonade

1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly butter the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan and place the fillets inside. Bake in the oven until fish flakes easily with a fork, about 10-15 minutes (depending on the size and thickness of the fillets).

Place the butter, mustard, worcestershire, and lemonade in small saucepan; heat over low heat until butter is melted and the ingredients have been whisked together to make a sauce. Remove from the heat and add the parsley.

Plate the fish and pour the desired amount of sauce over.

Yes, I like a little potato with my sour cream :-)~

Lemonade isn't just for drinking with vodka anymore...