Showing posts with label Virily. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virily. Show all posts

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Strawberries or Blueberries? Pineberry or Pink Lemonade? Let’s Decide

Life is full of difficult decisions.  Especially when it comes to gardening choices.  Tomatoes or peppers?  Herbs or flowers?  Raised beds or containers? 'But choosing between berries? YUM! What a delicious dilemma. 🍓🫐

As if it isn't hard enough to choose between growing strawberries or blueberries. Would you believe there are these two exquisitely delicious variations of these fruits, and you have to choose?  (Or not. 😊)
White Carolina Pineberry Plant VS 
Pink Lemonade Blueberry Plant.

 Let's Discuss and Decide.


🍓White Carolina Pineberry Plant

If you are a gardener and you like strawberries, then you might like to try planting the White Carolina Pineberry plant. It tastes like pineapple and strawberry TOGETHER! If you can imagine that.

A pineberry looks like a strawberry that forgot to blush — white flesh, red seeds, and a flavor often described as strawberry meets pineapple. Some say exotic, some say unusual, and some people describe it as weird. But nobody ever calls it boring.

PROs:

  • Works anywhere a regular strawberry works — including dipped in chocolate.

  • A berry that tastes like pineapple and strawberry? Showing off? That's right!

  • Your garden instantly becomes a conversation piece.

  • Featured by natural health enthusiasts as a nutrient-rich fruit. (Natural Medicine)

  • A fun gift for gardeners who like trying unusual plants.


CONs:

  • If you believe all strawberries should be red, this one will challenge your worldview.

  • Pineberries can be a little fussier than standard strawberries, so it's not for beginners.   

Pineberry plant
Fumikas Sagisavas, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

🫐 Pink Lemonade Blueberry Plant

Do you like lemonade? I do. What I like about lemonade is that you can vary the recipe and make it even better by adding another fruit. Do you like blueberries? Well then, there is no reason why you wouldn’t love the Pink Lemonade Blueberry plant. The berries ripen to a rosy pink and taste sweet-tart, like a blueberry with a citrus wink.
PROs:
  • For people who always wanted blueberries to be PINK
  • Surprisingly beginner-friendly — perfect for newbie gardeners.   
  • People might be impressed if they saw them in your garden
  • Works in all your blueberry recipes (including blueberry pancakes)  
 
CONs:
  • Any fruit claiming to be a blueberry “relative” should be BLUE.  (O.o)  What?  It's not blue!!
Stark Bro's. “Pink Lemonade Blueberry - Check Out This Popular Plant.” YouTube, 23 Mar. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwV9ituZoMU&t=5s.

* Want to learn more? Specialty Produce is a huge online resource for fruits, vegetables, and rare edible plants. Their site offers detailed profiles—flavor, history, seasonality, and storage tips—making it a favorite for gardeners, chefs, and anyone who loves discovering unique ingredients.


 ♦  White Carolina Pineberry Plant



 ♦  Pink Lemonade Blueberry Plant




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Thursday, January 1, 2026

Spice Spotlight : Capsicum Annuum (Peppers)

My late sister liked bell peppers. Me? I never paid any attention. It was an ingredient in a recipe. Fine! If it wasn’t in the recipe, I never missed it. To me, if I had celery, why did I need a bell pepper? Moved from Florida to Texas, and in this state, particularly in two cities where I lived (El Paso and Austin), the folks love their fajitas, which are made with small pieces of meat (chicken, beef, or pork), and chunks of veggies, mainly onions and bell peppers. Bell peppers in all different colors. I must say they make the dish pretty.

 Anyway! I like fajitas. If it weren’t for this dish, I don’t think I would have even realized that different color peppers exist and also have different flavors. For example, the red bell pepper actually tastes sweeter than the green bell pepper. The green pepper, if you put too much in a recipe, can taste kind of bitter. I blame my ignorance on a family tradition. My mom only bought green bell peppers. My sister only bought green bell peppers. So? I only bought green bell peppers. I learned by example. It’s not my fault! I watch a lot of cooking shows, and once heard one of the TV chefs say that a red bell pepper has more vitamin C than an orange. Did you know that? Coming from Florida, I was inclined not to believe that. But even though it’s true, I would still rather have an orange. Wouldn’t you?

 I also recently discovered that there was such a thing as a purple bell pepper. There is a website called johnnyseeds.com. There is even a sweet chocolate organic pepper. I’m not sure I want to try it. But if you’re brave enough, go for it!

There seems to be a little confusion over the use of the word capsicum. In my mind, that is. I always thought capsicum was the word used for a hot red pepper. But I was watching an Indian chef on TV and she used the word “capsicum” for the dish she was preparing, however, she was talking about bell pepper. I was confused but an Indian guy on a Q&A site called Quora clarified the difference between the bell pepper and capsicum. It turns out that we are both right!

 I am not really a huge fan of bell peppers. But I can live with them. So if a recipe calls for the ingredient, I prefer to use RED.

 What about you?
♦ ♦ ♦







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Grocery Shopping on Amazon ~
The Best Fresh Peppers in Best Sellers.




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Thursday, November 13, 2025

More of My Best Of Chicken Recipes

When I published the first list of My Best of Chicken Recipes, it was well-received.  But such a list is never really complete. Here are a few more recipes. Hope you like them!

***

5 Facts About Chicken:
  1. Chicken is the most common poultry in the world.
  2. PerTV chef Lidia Bastianich, chicken is the most Googled food term.
  3. Chicken is shown Babylonian carvings that date back to 600 B.C.
  4. Africans love chicken so much, suppliers have a hard time keeping up with the demand.
  5. Alektorophobiais the fear of chickens. ( Who would be afraid of a chicken? (O.o)}

Find more interesting facts at The Fact Site.

  ♦♦♦

  

#1 Jamie Oliver’s Thai Chicken Laksa

They say that while the king and his noblemen feasted on large portions of meat, the peasants were content to take the leftover meat scraps to make hearty soups or stews to feed themselves and their families.  It has also been said that the servants actually enjoyed better health and lived longer because they consumed less meat, ate more vegetables, and the broth was good for their innards. {Heard that on a televised documentary. I don't get Time magazine anymore.}

I fancy most soups, but particularly chicken soup.  Plus, Jamie Oliver believes in healthy eating.  This sounds marvelous!!  Take this to a soup party, and there won't be any leftovers to take back home. 

    #2 Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken

    This recipe has three key ingredients: sesame oil, Chinese rice wine, and soy sauce. The word “cups” means these ingredients should be in equal ratio, not a literal measurement.  You will enjoy learning this interesting food history.

      #3 Hot Chicken is a Favorite in Nashville

      Hot chicken is an extremely popular, fun food, and it has an interesting history.  One legend says it was invented in Nashville, Tennessee, during the Great Depression. 

        #4 Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup

        Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of my favorite soups.  Instant Pot seems to have become a favorite small kitchen appliance that many of my friends are using for cooking.  An easy recipe for my favorite soup using an Instant Pot?  I should pass this on to my friends to prepare, and hope they invite me over to enjoy it.  LOL.







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        Thursday, January 23, 2025

        Foodie Nuggets: Herbs and Spices: 3 Spices for a Long Life

        Mao Shing Ni (Dr. Mao), is a board-certified anti-aging expert who asserts that there are 3 spices that promote longevity. That’s right. They can help you live longer. Ginger, evergreen, and garlic.
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        Monday, January 13, 2025

        Foodie Nuggets: Herbs and Spices: 6 Spices For Indian Cuisine

        If you love Indian cuisine and want to learn how to cook Indian food then to get started you should have these 6 spices in your kitchen cabinet:
        1. turmeric, 
        2. saffron, 
        3. ginger, 
        4. cumin, 
        5. coriander (seed or powder), and 
        6. cardamon. 

        ♦





        Source: Virily.com










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        Sunday, September 8, 2024

        Foodie Nuggets: Herbs and Spices: 5 Exotic Spices

        Asafetida, dried avocado leaves, epazote, grains of paradise, and juniper berries are 5 wonderful cooking ingredients. Which country should we thank for introducing these 5 exotic spices to the global community of food lovers?

        • "Asafoetida was familiar in the early Mediterranean, having come by land across Iran." (Source)
        • Dried avocado leaves are a secret Mexican ingredient.  (Source)
        • "The epazote herb is commonly used in the cuisines and traditional medicines of central and southern Mexico and Guatemala." (Source)








        Source: Virily.com

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        Thursday, April 4, 2024

        Home Cooking: Dishes My Mom Used to Make: Oxtail Stew

        Are there any dishes that your mom used to make when you were growing up that you thought were incredibly delicious? Real comfort food. Dishes that are even more comforting when you think back fondly on that dish or those dishes and realize that you never learned the recipe or how to prepare it for your own family!

        My mom used to cook oxtail stew.


         My mother is passed away now. I never got her recipe. Of course, you can Google oxtail stew and find a bazillion recipes. But I’ll bet none of them will taste like the stew my mom used to make. Nevertheless, if you’ve never eaten a hearty bowl of oxtail stew and would like try, here are a few recipes.

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        Recall fond memories of the smells from your mother’s kitchen? Ready to fill your bowls?

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        NOTE:  This is my original content first published April 2018 at Virily, a social blogging community ~ Dishes My Mom Used to Make: Oxtail Stew



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        Friday, February 23, 2024

        Salt is Beautiful

        Salt is so commonplace that we tend to take it for granted. It is much more than just a food seasoning. People have very interesting ways in which they use it. Despite the fact that many say it’s bad for your health, it’s not really all that bad.

         This seasoning is invaluable to our daily lives and it has amazing health benefits. It also has a spiritual application. Jesus likened His disciples to “the salt of the earth”.

         No doubt in my mind. Salt is beautiful.
        #1 Salt in History

        #2 Salt in Peaceful Protest

        #3 Salt in Health

        #4 Too Much Salt is Not Good

        #5 Salt Sampler


        #6 Salt Shakers


        Click to continue viewing “More Salt LUV” 
        #7 Jada Chicken Salt is Becoming Popular
        #8 Salt in Therapy
        #9 Salt Lamps Make Great Gifts
        #10 Vegan Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

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        Tuesday, August 8, 2023

        Are the Foods You Love to Eat on a List?

        FOOD! This topic has so much variety that one of my friends suggested the best 2 words to describe it is “food diversity”. Diversity is right. People love sharing recipes. Nutritionists and medical practitioners share information about health benefits, health tips, and healthy eating. Others like to go on a sort of “food safari” and talk about all the bizarre foods they discovered.



        #1 Top 10 List of Superfoods


        *
        EatingWell publishes a free newsletter and you can receive articles with weight loss tips and healthy recipes. They published a top 10 list of superfoods you can and should eat every day The great thing about this list is there is a superfood (or super drink) that can please everybody in my house. My daughters love tea. My husband loves oranges. And I love sweet potato!

        #2 Medical Advice About Superfoods


        *
        For contrast and comparison, another listing of superfoods was published via Medical News Today and it shares insightful information about the health benefits and about taking supplements.

        #3 WARNING: Delicacies Can Be Dangerous!


        *
        Many people are blessed to travel the world and get introduced to new foods they have never tasted or even heard of. Here is some advice you should never ignore. In some countries, certain foods may be considered “delicacies” but … “Prepare them wrong and you can die!” Some foods don't even require preparation because they are eaten raw. My first time seeing this fruit was when I visited The Bahamas to meet my husband's parents. I tasted it. It was delicious. So it was a shock to see that star fruit was on this list of "dangerous foods". Who knew?

        #4 100 Healthiest Foods ~ Is Your Favorite Food on the List?

        *
        It's great to review a Top 10 List of healthy foods to eat. But a list of the Top 100 healthy foods gives you more to choose from. That's 10 times YUM! YUM! Pomegranates, one of my favorite fruits is on this list. Spirulina is also on the list. To my surprise, certain meats, like bison, are also on the list.

        Original source:  Virily.com


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        Wednesday, May 3, 2023

        Foodie Nuggets: 100 Healthiest Foods ~ Is Your Favorite Food on the List?

        It's great to review a Top 10 List of healthy foods to eat. But a list of the Top 100 healthy foods gives you more to choose from. That's 10 times YUM! YUM!   Pomegranates, one of my favorite fruits, is on this list. Spirulina is also on the list. To my surprise, certain meats, like bison, are also on the list.



        ♦♦ Diabetes Superfoods Cookbook and Meal Planner: Power-Packed Recipes and Meal Plans Designed to Help You Lose Weight and Control Your Blood Glucose



        Source: Virily.com
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        Thursday, July 29, 2021

        My Favorite Fun Food: Pudding!

        Hello!  Thank you so much for visiting my foodie blog.  Was it the word "pudding" that tempted you here?  LOL.  Food Ways is just one of the places on the web where I publish or have published content about my love for food.    

         Virily.com is a social blogging community and I have published content there on a wide range of topics.  One of those topics is food!  One of my favorite post series is called "Irresistible Fun Food".  I shared about 20 posts in this series.  Sharing a link to my post about pudding.  Enjoy!


        Pudding goes on my list for fun food, thanks to Jell-O’s creation of instant pudding.  In my circles, mention pudding and folks just want to know if they’re being offered banana pudding or chocolate pudding.  No surprise that if you search for pudding recipes on Twitter, the first few recipes that pop up are banana and chocolate.

        After that, there is rice pudding or bread pudding.  The recipes for these are not instant.  I will admit that I was never a fan of old-fashioned rice pudding but the way the Indians make it gave me second thoughts.  I do like the old-fashioned bread pudding because my mom used to bake it with old bread and raisins.  It was very filling.

        These are the common puddings (or rather the puddings that I know about). When it comes to pudding there are some cooks or chefs who use ingredients that never crossed my mind like persimmon or tiramisu.

        ♦  Click through to continue reading and view additional content:

        Irresistible Fun Food: Pudding


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        Saturday, June 12, 2021

        What Are the 3 Obvious Reasons Why People Love Herbs and Spices?

        Several years back I started looking for ways to earn income working from home. Affiliate marketing was suggested and since eating is one of my favorite things, I decided to kill two birds with one stone Watching a lot of cooking shows on television inspired me and I wanted to learn how to use different herbs and spices in my cooking. I signed up to become an affiliate marketer for various companies that sell cooking ingredients. In order to market the products, I learned about them: how to use the ingredients in various recipes, the medicinal benefits, etc. There are three awesome things about herbs and spices that I already knew but my knowledge and understanding have been reinforced. They are the 3 obvious reasons why people love herbs and spices.

        • Number One: Spices and herbs can turn everyday meals into a sumptuous fare and make dining with family and friends a very enjoyable and memorable event. Not that sitting down at the table with friends or family and partaking of a bland meal doesn’t have its positives. I mean … you can have great fun with relatives and friends at the table – telling jokes, talking about sports, the weather, etc. Everything but the food! Oh, there won’t be any insults. But there won’t be any compliments dished up either. They probably won’t look forward to coming over for another meal and will likely make polite excuses about why they can’t attend the next time they’re invited.


        • Number Two: Spices and herbs help you to develop a healthy respect and appreciation not just for various cuisines but for different cultures. One of my favorite TV cooking shows is “East Meets West” because the aim of the program is to blend the cooking techniques and ingredients of eastern and western dishes to make a fusion cuisine. My interest in learning more about herbs and spices started was because I wanted to use more than just salt, black pepper, and garlic powder, to season my food; and also wanted to make dietary changes for health reasons without having to eat tasteless food. Mind you, there was no excuse for me limiting myself to what one well known American chef referred to as “house seasoning” (salt, black pepper, and garlic powder). In the house I grew up in, my mother used oregano, bay leaf, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, Italian herb blend, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, etc. There were all kinds of herbs and spices in our kitchen cabinet. All used – whenever my mom was doing the cooking. When you have to do your own cooking; you look for easy street. Now that I’m older and wiser and there are lots of cooking shows on television all the time – there’s no lack of inspiration.


        • Number Three: Spices have a fascinating history. At one time they were considered such a highly valued commodity that nations fought wars over them. Indonesia was proclaimed a republic in 1945, and the islands which were formerly known as the Spice Islands are known today as the Moluccas Islands. Discovering these islands was quite an adventure for the explorers. As a result of their efforts and sacrifice, we can experience the joys of many flavorful and exotic herbs and spices every day because they can be easily purchased online or at our local grocery store. Even though obtaining them is now very convenient, their availability, not just for cooking but for medicinal purposes, should never be taken for granted.
        Simply Ming: Easy Techniques for East-Meets-West Meals

         * * *
        Source: Virily.com

        * Follow my posts about Herbs and Spices on Noise.Cash.

        (Noise.Cash) 
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        Monday, May 31, 2021

        Foodie Nuggets: Medical Advice About Super foods

        For contrast and comparison, another listing of superfoods was published via Medical News Today and it shares insightful information about the health benefits and about taking supplements.

         ♦ ♦  Superfood Kitchen: Cooking with Nature's Most Amazing Foods (Julie Morris's Superfoods)  





        Source: Virily.com
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        Wednesday, May 19, 2021

        Foodie Nuggets: Top 10 List of Superfoods

        EatingWell publishes a free newsletter, and you can receive articles with weight loss tips and healthy recipes. They published a top 10 list of superfoods you can and should eat every day. The great thing about this list is that there is a superfood (or super drink) that can please everybody in my house. My daughters love tea. My husband loves oranges. And I love sweet potato! 

         ♦ ♦  Nourishing Superfood Bowls: 75 Healthy and Delicious Gluten-Free Meals to Fuel Your Day


        Image credit:  A Super Awesome Bowl!



        Source: Virily.com
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