Category Archives: Recipe

Fresh Veggies, Pickling and Pictures

Chickens, Cucumbers, Flowers, garden, garlic, Hibiscus, Nature, Oregano, Peppers, Pickles, Recipe, Reflections, Roses, Summer, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Wild Flowers, , , ,

Summer is in full swing and the gardens are producing. We have been including home grown veggies in our meals nearly daily. So far, we have enjoyed beets, Swiss chard, banana peppers, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, and of course garlic.

Check out this post for my recipe for banana pepper poppers.

This week I have also started making pickles. I have two quarts of refrigerator dill pickles chillin’ in the fridge and Wednesday I canned 7 pints of pickled beets. I’m excited about having pickled beets because it has been several years since we have grown enough beets for me to pickle them. we usually eat them all fresh.

Guarding the Pond

For a couple of weeks we were having ducks visit our pond and a daily basis. Ruby would chase them off, but they kept returning. We generally embrace nature, but we don’t want ducks or geese in our pond or on our beach as they can introduce bacteria and parasites that could be harmful to those of us enjoy swimming in the pond. After a couple of weeks of this repeat behavior my husband decided Ruby needed some support. He brought out our Guard Owl and stationed it on the beach. We have not seen the ducks since the owl had been in place and as a bonus the chickens stay off the beach as well.

Our green heron has returned. (Can you see it off to the right in the above photo?) It doesn’t seem to be bothered by the owl.

Here is a closer but a bit blurry photo of the green heron.

The chickens still like to forage around the edges of the pond.

What’s Blooming?

Rose of Sharon

Anise Hyssop

Oregano

Hibiscus

Roses

Hostas

In the Garden

Corn and Sunflowers

Beets and Swiss chard with Green beans in the background

Tomatoes

Squash and Pumpkins

A volunteer sunflower popped up in the squash bed.

Wild Flowers

Mountain Mint and Echinacea

Echinacea hiding behind Timothy

Rudbeckia Laciniata (a type of cone flower)

Purple Loosestrife and Mountain Mint

Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace and Milk Weed (I’m not sure what variety of milkweed.)

Purple Loosestrife

As I stood by the wildflower patch a noticed two swallowtail butterflies dancing by. They were so beautiful. I pointed my camera in their direction and clicked a few pictures. They are barely visible in the above photo.

The beauty in digital photography is that I was able to crop the photo so we can see both butterflies.

Thanks for visiting.

If it Looks Like a Brownie and Tastes Like a Brownie, is it a Brownie?

Recipe, Reflections, , , ,

This post is a lesson in “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet”.

Last week one of the articles that came up on my news feed boasted making brownies with just two ingredients. If you have been reading my blog for long you probably know that I do a lot of home cooking and baking, and we love desserts, so I read the article/ recipe that called for just chocolate chips and eggs. I had both ingredients on hand and decided to give it a try.

I followed the instructions to melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler and to beat the eggs (I used an electric mixer to make sure they were completely beaten.) I let the chocolate chips cool a bit so they were not hot enough to cook the eggs when added. I added the chocolate slowly while using the mixer to combine them. When it was completely mixed and looked like brownie batter, I put the mixture in a baking pan that I had sprayed with cooking spray.

I baked it at 350 F for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted came out clean. It was cooling on the counter when my husband came in and said, “brownies, yumm.” I explained it was a new recipe and he said he was sure it would be good. “You always make good desserts,” he said.

After lunch we decided to try the brownies. When I cut them and took one out of the pan it looked dense and moist like a good brownie should. My husband’s first impression was good, and I agree they had good flavor, chocolaty and sweet like a brownie, but after a second bite he noticed they were dry. He was right the, even the good chocolaty flavor could not make up for the dry crumbly texture. They looked like brownies and tasted like brownies, but they lacked the dense, moist and even a bit gooey texture of a good brownie. I honestly would not even call these brownies.

So, if you happen to come across this recipe for two ingredient brownies my advice would be save your eggs for breakfast and eat a handful of chocolate chips for dessert. Don’t bother trying this recipe which is sure to disappoint any brownie lover.

Of course, you could choose not to believe this since you did read it on the internet. 🙂

Rehydrating Potatoes and Our Garden Meal

potatoes, Recipe, Reflections,

Hello and welcome!

We dehydrated a second batch of potatoes over the weekend. This time rather than slicing them we decided to do shredded potatoes – like would cook up into hashbrowns. After peeling them my husband boiled them until they were nearly done. He then used the food processor with the shredding blade to cut them up. It took about 6 hours at 125 degrees in the dehydrator to dry them.

We packaged the shredded dehydrated potatoes in two-ounce packages.

I had found instructions online that said when rehydrating vegetables, a rule of thumb was to use two parts water to one part vegetable so that’s where I started. I’m not sharing the link because I found out it was inaccurate.

I put the dehydrated potatoes in a metal bowl on the scale. It read 1.9 ounces.

I then reset the scale to zero and added twice as much boiling water as I had potatoes – 3.8 ounces. (I know the scale says 3.9 – .1 ounce over is acceptable.) Hot or boiling water speeds up the rehydration process. I stirred the potatoes and water together and found that once all of the water was absorbed some of the potatoes were still too dry. I again zeroed out the scale and added another 1.9 ounces of water.

I again stirred the mixture and once all of the water was absorbed I had perfectly rehydrated potatoes to make into hashbrowns.

I learned that in order to rehydrate these potatoes I need a 1:3 ratio of potatoes to water.

I put some butter in the cast iron skillet and cooked up these wonderful hashbrowns that tasted as fresh as if I had just dug the potatoes.

It was a breakfast for dinner night, so I cooked up a garden omelet to go with the hashbrowns and sausage. It’ not pretty but it was delicious.

I started, of course, with farm fresh eggs. Added some sautéed Swiss chard, a diced banana pepper, a diced jalapeno pepper and a diced tomato. I then topped it with American cheese which did not come from our farm but was the perfect finishing touch.

Yum!!!

Thanks for visiting.

Fond Memories

homemade, Recipe, Reflections

Hello and Welcome!

It seems like each time I get together with all of my daughters they will begin reminiscing about their childhood(s). Fun or funny things that happened, favorite teachers, holidays with family, and many more topics have all been discussed as fond memories.

I am first struck by the fact that my little girls are now grown women reminiscing about childhood. (Where did the time go?) I am then delighted and most of all grateful that they have so many fond memories, and that they have each other to share them with.

Last Sunday when we had a (pre) Easter family dinner. I made a special treat knowing it would evoke memories for the girls.

Jell-O Pinwheels (click for recipe) they are a fun and yummy treat.

When the girls were in grade school it was common practice for each student to bring a special treat to share with the class on their birthday. (I’m not sure if this is done nowadays.) It was important to send a few extras so the student could take them to the office to share them with anyone working in the office that day, or perhaps take one to the counselor or another teacher that they were fond of. I always liked to send a homemade treat – cookies, cupcakes or brownies. At some point I began making Jell-O pinwheels for them to take. Apparently they were a big hit, because when I pulled them out of the refrigerator on Sunday the girls immediately began sharing memories of when I made them for their birthday treat. 🙂

Twenty-some years ago, when I was making those simple Jell-O pinwheels, I never realized that I was also creating memories that would last a lifetime.

What’s your favorite way to eat Jell-O? Do you have a Jell-O recipe you’d like to share?

Pumpkin Recipes

Pie, Pumpkin, Recipe, Reflections,

I finally made pumpkin pie for my husband. It was a nice birthday treat for him. 🎈🙂

Since we have had such a bountiful pie pumpkin harvest this year we have given some to family and friends, and in doing so I promised to pass along my pumpkin pie recipe to a couple of people. I had planned on just reblogging a post from a couple of years ago that included that and some other recipes for them but for some reason new editor would not allow me to do so. The feature that used to allow me to “copy a post” is now missing as well, so I have copied and pasted several of the recipes from that post into this. For long time readers recipes 2-6 are repeats from the previous post. Recipe #1 however is new to this post. I hope you enjoy.

Pumpkin Recipe # 1

Begin by measuring the circumference of the pumpkin. Write down that number. Then measure the diameter of the pumpkin and remember or write that number down. Lastly divide the circumference by the diameter. You now have pumpkin Pi. 😁

LOL! (You can thank my dad for that one.)

Pumpkin Recipe # 2 – Pumpkin Puree

If you have never cooked a pumpkin before it is very simple. Usually the small pumpkins are use for cooking, but larger ones are just as edible. While there are other ways to cook pumpkin, this is the way I do it. Cut the pumpkin in half,  scoop out all the seeds and gunk? goo? slimy stuff? You probably know what I’m talking about. Put the pumpkin halves in a baking dish with a small amount of water in the pan and cover it with foil. Bake at 350 degrees until it is soft probably 60-90 minutes. Allow it to cool, then scoop the pumpkin out of the shell. Your pumpkin is now ready to eat, or at this point you can put it in a food processor to puree it before using it in other recipes. Here are a few recipes you might try.

Pumpkin Recipe # 3 – Easy Pumpkin Pie

2  cups pumpkin puree

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 unbaked deep-dish pie shell (I usually buy these but you certainly can make your own)

Mix first 7 ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 35-40 minutes.

Pumpkin Recipe # 4 – Pumpkin Cake

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

Preheat over to 350. Grease 9×13 pan. Mix together flour, baking powder. baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix together sugar and oil until well blended then add eggs and mix well. Mix in pumpkin. Add flour mixture and mix until thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched.  I love this cake and it pares well with a cream cheese or vanilla frosting.

If you have baked more pumpkin than you need for a specific recipe this puree freezes well. I usually measure it out, (2 cups for pie) then put it in plastic freezer containers.

Pumpkin Recipe #5 – Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Now I hope you didn’t throw away those seeds that you scraped out of the pumpkin, because roasted pumpkin seeds are also a great snack. While I have only made the regular salted variety this link has several different ways to try them.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/pumpkin-seeds-recipe.html

Pumpkin Recipe #6 – Facial Mask

Lastly if you would like to try pumpkin on your skin you could make a pumpkin facial mask by blending together 1/4 to 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1 egg, 1 tsp. honey and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Apply to face and allow to sit and dry for 15 minutes before rinsing off with warm water. If you have any left over dispose of it. This product should be used immediately after it is prepared and it will not keep.

Thanks for visiting.