Cuba - final installment

It's a dreary, rainy day here today - they're even talking of slushy snow on the radio - so how about a final round of Cuba photos to warm the place up?

We went on an excursion to the local towns of Ciego de Avila & Moron.  On these types of trips I'm always obsessed with taking pictures of the buildings.  I just love the detail, the colours, the smooth walls.  It's so different than anything we have here in Canada.

And yes they are sometimes dingy & in need of repair, but that doesn't take away from the beauty.

I also couldn't stop taking pictures of these trees. I know now that they're called Royal Palm, but I just called them the "fatty trees". (I mean like, "my dog is a fatty", not like "let's go smoke a fatty". What kind of blog do you think this is?)  

Though the sharp teeth were kind of scary (may not be a royal palm here).

And the flowers, oh the flowers!

Don't these look like radishes?

I'll leave you with my little anole friend.  He was showing off by the pool one day.  

Or maybe he was warning me away from his deck chair.

Homemade Sliders

Do you make sliders?  I love to make them just to have on hand. I try to follow the Paleo diet and one of the key hints is to have emergency protein on hand whenever possible. Emergency protein is any meat that is ready to be eaten - so that you can quickly put together a healthy meal or snack instead of reaching for the potato chip bag.

Here is my version.


I start by finely chopping some vegetables - always mushrooms, plus this time I added leeks and carrots - and frying them in coconut oil. You can include any vegetable you want though - I also like sweet peppers, onions or spinach. I've read that cooked mushrooms will help your patties stay together without adding bread crumbs. I don't know if they really are helping, but it's worked out so far. Plus I love mushrooms. Love. I eat them every day. I usually add some garlic powder and salt to the vegetables while they're in the pan.

While the vegetables are cooking I get my ground beef (or pork, or turkey, or lamb, whatever you want to use) ready in a bowl and sprinkle it with dried minced onion. I then add the cooked vegetables (and according to the photo I also added some minced raw onion) to the meat and mix it thoroughly.

I add an egg -

then some spices  - Steakhouse Pepper, chili powder, and Sweet Chili sauce - 

and mix them all together.

I take a small handful of the meat mixture, roll it into a ball and add it to the hot frying pan. I use the same one I just cooked the vegetables in - I don't even wash it. Gotta get every bit of that flavour, right? I use the spatula to flatten the patty when it first goes into the pan. Don't press down on your patties after you've flipped them or you'll lose the moisture.

Fry them until they are nicely browned on each side and then transfer them to a plate or storage container, using a papertowel to blot the excess grease if you want.

The thing I like about making sliders is that you can have as few or as many as you want. Sometimes when I get home from work I'll pop just one in my mouth to get me through until dinner is ready.

What's your variation on the recipe?


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I'm linking up here this week!

The Big 2-0-0

I did it folks!  Turtles and Tails reached 200 followers this week!  I think it's more truthful to say that YOU did it since I didn't have anything to do with it other than provide interesting (I hope!) topics to read about. 

And so, I thank you for providing this shy, introverted girl a place to show off her creative side. Most people who meet me in real life wouldn't have a clue that I'm interested in decorating, renovating, or crafting.  And yet that's pretty much all I think about.
Discovering the DIY/crafting blog world has had such a positive effect in my life.  There are so many wonderful ideas out there, and an outstanding person behind every idea. I consider you all my friends and hope we get to do this for a long, long time.

So, not to get too teary and melodramatic (who, me?) - but THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!