Product Review - Trader Joe's Gnocchi

 In general, I love Gnocci...it can be difficult to find good Gnocchi and the best is always at a good Italian resturant.  But I have had good luck with Trader Joe products and an employee there mentioned that this was her favorite thing they sold so I decided to give it a try.

Trader Joe's Gnocchi al Gorgonzola.

This is Gnocchi with a creamy Gorgonzola cheese sauce.  

It is SUPER easy to cook..you just put it in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 4 minutes (I stirred about half way through and again when done).

Each bag has 3 servings but I managed to get 4 out of it because it is a pretty generous sized bag. Not bad for $2.99.

My thoughts...it was good.  The sauce was very good.  The Gnocchi was a little bit dense and chewy to me though.  It also seemed to be missing something so I added a bit of Italian seasoning to it, which helped but still seemed like something was missing.

 Later, I found that someone took it and doctored it up a bit by adding some spinach and nuts.

Would I buy again...hmmm...I'm a little on the fence.  While it had a pretty good taste, the gnocchi texture wasn't quite right - just a bit too chewy for me.  I might give it another try by adding some different ingredients to it to boost it up a little but I won't be in a rush to purchase it again.

Mayflower Heritage - Thomas Rogers

 I was watching "Who Do You Think You Are?" and it highlighted Allison Janney's ancestors, one in particular was Stephen Hopkins, who had a rather interesting story, but ultimately arrived on the Mayflower.  I, too, am a Mayflower decedent.  I have done quite a bit of research once I found a connection just to be sure I truly was a decedent.  

My ancestor on the Mayflower was Thomas Rogers (my 11th great-grandfather), who also was joined on the Mayflower by his eldest son, Joseph Rogers.  I am not descended from Joseph, but rather another of Thomas' son, John Rogers.  John Rogers, arrived in Plymouth in 1628, which is 8 years after the Mayflower [Source Colonial Families of the USA 1607-1775].

Sadly, Thomas. who was about 48, died soon after arrival (as did many settlers) in January or February of 1621.  Therefore, his portion of the promised land was granted to his surviving Mayflower son, Joseph, who was about 17 at the time.  

On 6 April 1640, “Joseph Rogers and John Rogers, his brother,” were granted fifty acres of upland each at the North River. [Source:The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633].

Although born Northhamptonshire, England, Thomas was living in Leiden, Holland at the time he immigrated.  He was a Lieden separatist (Protestant Christian who separated from the Church of England).  His wife, Alice Cosford never made the journey to the new land and she died in 1622 at the age of 49 in Leiden, Holland.

Thomas was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.  Even though Joseph was on board as well, at 17, he was too young to sign the Mayflower Compact. 

I have much more information on Thomas Rogers that I will share in a separate post (since this one is more about my connection)

Below is a chart that show all of my ancestors that followed.  The names in yellow are the Mayflower Descendants.  

When you think of all those generations and all they survived (traveling on ships, Revolutionary War, Civil War, and other things) - it is kind of a miracle that I was even born.  Isn't that the case for all of us...imagine all that our ancestors went through and because of them...we are here!  

Funny Friday - Sign of the Times

 I didn't learn shorthand and was never in a Steno Pool but I do remember those.  When I was young and watched "The Beverly Hillbillies", I remember that Miss Jane and the other secretaries in the Steno Pool would use shorthand.

I did, however, use an IBM Selectric.  In fact, it is what I use to learn to type.  It was so cool to me to use an electric typewriter with that cool round ball instead of a manual typewriter.  I loved it!

Typing class was a class I looked forward to everyday.  It was fun.  I am sure they no longer teach typing or keyboarding in high school.  Today's kids get to miss out on that fun class since they now grow up typing.  

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG 
(If you know, you know) 😄

June 2022

June and July are busy months for me, especially July.  Hopefully, this time next year, I will be retired and I can actually have a real summer!

 Because I've been busy, my blog has been neglected a bit.  Not that I have a ton of readers sitting on the edge of their seats or anything just dying to know how my goals are progressing - ha ha!

So how are the goals going?

1) Daily Bible Reading/Prayer - Fantastic....as of yesterday, I have read 200 straight days!! I'm not Catholic but I have chosen to read the 7 books that are in the Catholic Bible that are not in the Protestant Bible.  Side note:  Martin Luther decided to follow the newer Palestinian canon, which includes only books originally composed in Hebrew or for which a Hebrew text was available in the late first century A.D. Therefore, 7 books were removed. The King James version follows Luther on this matter.

2) Weight Loss/Eat Healthier/Exercise - Just okay. I am maintaining my weight but not losing but I haven't been really doing what I need to lose weight.  I know it sounds like an excuse and part of it is...but it has been too freaking hot to exercise! Plus, I have been so busy with work!  I know I could exercise in the early hours of the morning, which is what I was doing before I started slacking.  This is really something I will focus on in the upcoming weeks.

3) Watercolor - again, no time to paint recently.  I have ideas swirling around in my head though.

4) Crochet/Knit - Not much crochet/knit time in June...still have a prayer shawl and afghan that I am working on.

5)  Personal Journaling - Pretty good - I'm not writing daily but I am about every 2-3 days so that is an improvement.

6) House Projects - Nothing new in June...again, several ideas swirling around in my head but need more time and money to accomplish them.

7) Scrapbooking/Project Life - very good.  I am up to date with my weekly layouts.  I do want to catch up my "cat" book for the year - maybe this weekend I will be able to do that.

8) Genealogy - Good but again, just very busy.  I haven't had a lot of time to work on it.

So how do I feel? OK - I am most excited that I have kept up with my Bible reading because normally I have stopped by mid-March/early April. But I need to work on thing like better health and house projects.

Here are my Project Life/Scrapbook pages for June - click on photos to enlarge.

 

 

May 2022 Project Life

 Here are my Project Life pages for May 2022

I noticed I used very similar pictures in weeks 20, 21 & 22.  They were all taken different days, guess it shows that my kitty cats are creatures of  habit and apparently I am too, since I keep taking pictures of them - ha ha!

Click on the photos to enlarge

May 2022 Recap

Monthly check in time!

 How are the 2022 goals coming along?  Let's see....

1) Daily Bible Reading/Prayer - Fantastic....I have read the Bible for 158 days!!  God is so good!!

2) Weight Loss/Eat Healthier/Exercise - Pretty good, but could be better.  I lost 3 more pounds last month..I know, not a lot, but hey, the scale is down and not up so even a one pound lose is better than a one pound gain.  I'm happy with a loss.  (Darn those Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups - could have lost more).   Exercise...I've been so, so, so, so busy with work, but that isn't an excuse (well, maybe a little).  I had planned to start getting up early and going back to the gym this week but my boss is on vacation and therefore I do get up early but have a lot of work that has to be completed by 7 am - current plan is to start back this Saturday.

3) Watercolor - no painting so far this year...that is okay though.

4) Crochet/Knit - Almost finished with a prayer shawl for church...started a new afghan and loving the pattern for that - easy pattern but not boring - stay tuned.

5)  Personal Journaling - Hmm...not too good there.  I "think" about journaling..I "think" about what I am going to write and want to write about but I haven't been putting pen to paper lately.

6) House Projects - I got a couple of things done and managed to maintain other things...going good so far.

7) Scrapbooking/Project Life - A+ - I am still current with my Project Life pages (will post the May pages - possibly tomorrow) but I have completed LOTS of recipe pages.  I'm excited to finally be getting all of my "tried and true" recipes together and to have one book.  I have a few more to document before I print them out.

8) Genealogy - Good!  I updated a lot of people on my family tree last month and I even located an old photo of my uncle and his family when he was about 4 years old.  He is no longer with us, but I sent the photo to my aunt and cousins and they were blown away.  My aunt immediately recognized everyone of the siblings.  He had 15 siblings!!  They were not all in the photo because by then some were married and some hadn't been born yet, but can you imagine having 16 kids !! Yikes!

So how do I feel? Pretty good.  I do wish I had done a little painting and I do wish I had exercised a bit more in May but I'm really chuffed that I am current with my Bible Reading and Project Life pages.

How was your May ?

Product Review - Trader Joe's Chicken Soup Dumplings

I love soup dumplings...but let's admit it, they are time consuming to make.  Also, you typically need a bamboo steamer to steam them.  While I have a bamboo steamer, for exactly that reason, I would love an easier and faster way to make soup dumplings....enter Trader Joe's

I found these Chicken Soup Dumplings in their freezer section.  There are 6 in a box for $3.29 and there is one serving in a box - which is plenty.  It has 250 calories and 7 grams of fat...so for a whole serving, that is not bad diet wise or price wise.  

They are called Chicken "Soup Dumplings" not "Chicken Soup" Dumplings - does that make sense?  In other words...they are Soup Dumplings (also known as Xiao Long Bao) filled with chicken...not chicken soup inside a dumpling. 

You have to be careful eating a soup dumpling.  You put it on the spoon, take a bite and drink out the soup and then eat the dumpling.  That is challenging for me.  What I typically do, is put them in a bowl, cut them in half and eat the soup and dumplings together.  

So...here is how they are packaged

And here is what they look like when you open the box

6 cute and perfectly sized frozen dumplings.  The best part...they come in a steamer package.  So all you do is cut off one corner and pop it in them microwave for 2 minutes.  

Then they come out...looking almost like they looked when they went in...but just not frozen

 I typically eat soup dumplings with some kind of soy/vinegar sauce but I wanted to taste the true flavors of these and not have them masked by anything else.

Photo Courtesy of Two Cousins Haul It All 

Verdict: Delicious and filling.  They are a great light supper, especially after a long day when you don't feel like cooking, but you want some good comfort food.