Biscotti Biscotti Biscotti ~~ No peeking MOM!

Red Velvet Biscotti

Gingerbread biscotti

Chocolate peanut butter biscotti

Vanilla Irish Cream

Honey cinnamon butter

2 sticks room temperature butter

1 cup honey

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix until fluffy

4 ounce jars with labels from lollychops

I always give my mom biscotti for Christmas so you better not be peeking!

I didn't want to bore you with a bunch of biscotti recipes so send me a message if you'd like any of the recipes.

Merry Christmas!!

Lots of request for the red velvet biscotti.  Just click on this link

Tasty Thursday!

This soup really hit the spot this week, especially since the temperature has started to drop.

1 large onion, chopped and sauteed in oil

to this add one pound ground beef and brown then drain

add one clove chopped, smashed garlic

dried oregano & basil

one can french style green beans, drained

one can corn, drained

half a bag of curly noodles

V8 juice to cover all 

add salt, pepper & freshly grated parmesan

I made this late one night after everyone else had already eaten

one medium onion, sliced in half rings

caramelize in a small amount of oil - 20-25 mins

During the last few minutes, add one tomato, drained, sliced in half rings

Pour over egg noodles and top with salt and parmesan - YUM!

Tonight I made chicken surprise in the crockpot.  Fortunately the family rated it 5 out of 5 stars, unfortunately they ate it so fast, I didn't get a picture.

3/4's of a bag of chicken tenderloin

8 ounces sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp dill weed

salt and pepper

Cooked all day in the crock on low.  Served over no yolk egg noodles.

Summer's End

The boys started back to school this week.  It's been such as adjustment for them, trying to get back on a schedule.  Ranger faced a huge challenge in leaving elementary school and heading to middle school.  It's overwhelming, scary, and nerve wracking.  But he's hanging in there.  Like many boys his age, he loves video games.  I told him to tackle middle school like he does a new game that's hard to play.  Just keep at it and don't give up.

First day of school

Summer is coming to an end.  If you watch closely you'll see the days are getting shorter.  The humidity isn't as high as it has been.  

No balls are bouncing.

The pool is empty.

The tire swing stands alone.

And the yard is lonely and empty since the boys went back to school.

On another note- I had an abundance of tomatoes a few days ago and decided to see what all the hoopla was about with oven roasted tomatoes.  After a quick wash they were sliced in half, drizzled with a little oil and sprinkled with oregano and basil.  I roasted for 5 hours at 200 degrees.

They definitely took on a completely different taste than I expected.  It was sweet and caramelized.  After I nibbled on a few, I took some of the others and tucked into the freezer and then a few more that I chopped up and mixed into a pot of angel hair pasta with grated Parmesan.  I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious!  

Today while the boys were at school, I snapped a few pictures.

I'm not sure what kind of bloom this is.  But I thought I was very lucky to capture this picture with the skipper and the bee.

This is a mammoth sunflower.  The head is nearly a foot in diameter.  It's so heavy it's leaning.

Peach colored zinnia.  I LOVE this shot.

Same bloom bee was on above.

Fuchsia bloom 

This sunflower is over 10 feet tall!

These stand several feet above the little barn.

You can see the mammoth sunflower in front leaning and how tall the ones in back are.

Wasp in pink cockscomb.

Bright yellow!

Zinnia bud.  I LOVE this shot, too!

Canning Day

I got a recipe from my mom for cucumber relish.  She got the recipe from one of her good friends who just happens to be a great cook.

I ended up with 8 jars of cucumber relish, 8 pints of dill pickles and 3 pints of strawberry jam.  The house is permeated with the smell of vinegar.  So much so that hubby says his eyes are burning.  Hmmm, it doesn't bother me.  I LOVE it.

I hope that my garden produces much, much more so I get to can all summer long!

Here's the recipe for the cucumber relish:

6 large cucumbers
4 onions
2 green peppers
2 red peppers (I didn't have any red, so I used all green)
1 Tbsp canning salt
2 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar
1 Tbsp celery seed
1 Tbsp mustard seed


Peel and seed cukes, chop onion, cukes, and peppers into small pieces.  Add salt and mix together.  Allow to sit 30 minutes and then drain.

Add rest of the ingredients and cook until thick.  Pour into jars and seal.

Fried Cucumber???

We've all heard of fried green tomatoes and fried squash and even fried dill pickles, but have you ever heard of fried cucumber?

Out of the garden today, we got lots of cukes, one green pepper, tons of jalapenos and 4 large green 'maters.  I ran to the store to get a mix to make bread and butter pickles but they were out.  I did not want to go to another store, so I decided to do something else with all the cukes.

I made up a big batch of goulash to go on the cornbread and white beans.

1 green pepper

1 large onion

1 large cucumber

Dice all to desired size and pour white vinegar over to cover.

This went nicely with the fried green 'maters and fried squash

1 squash sliced thinly

Stir together 1 cup flour, desired spices, and enough beer to make a thin batter.

Dip vegetables in and fry in bacon drippings.

Now, this is where the cukes come in.

Using the beer batter, I sliced the cukes lengthwise thinly and fried 'til my heart and stomach was content.

Amazingly enough, they were wonderful!

I shared some of my garden goodies with Miss Iris next door and she gave me 2 jars of pear preserves and 2 jars of canned pears.  What great country neighbors!

Blog Hop - Hop on over & Gardening & Pickle Recipe

Kathie over at Kathies box of chocolates is having a no holds barred blog hop.  I thought this was a great idea to get to know bloggers that have similar interests.  I can't wait to peruse the blogs that strike my fancy.

So hop on over and see if you can find one or two or three that pique your interest.



The garden is offically out.  Hubby got it all tilled up and yesterday we planted 20 better boy tomatoes, one cherry tomato, 4 jalapenos, 8 green peppers, one row of purple hull peas, cukes, 1 squash, butternut squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, lots of sunflowers, banana peppers . . . I'm sure I'm leaving something out.  We had a nice drenching rain during the night, so that is a great start for the garden.  I also have dill, oregano, and basil coming up!  I cook with oregano and basil year round.





My boys cannot get enough dill pickles.  I have to can quarts and quarts and quarts of them. 

Left to right:  Squash pickles, dill pickles, salsa

Ingredients

Approximately 10 pounds of pickling cukes (small)
5 cups white vinegar

13 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup pickling salt…coarse
fresh garlic pieces
fresh dill

Directions

Wash cukes well and leave in cold water while preparing everything else.
Mix water, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Simmer.
Prepare canning lids and rings by simmering in water.
Prepare clean, warm canning jars by adding 1-2 pieces garlic pieces and one head of fresh dill. Pack tightly with cukes. I prefer to use very small whole cukes.
Fill jars carefully with hot brine (vinegar mix).
Place lids and rings on the jars carefully and place into a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.


Some country cooks do not process their pickles in a boiling water bath. Pickles can be done be completely eliminating the canning process and they will seal on their own. However, many people are not comfortable with this method. You have to do what works best for you.

I've been thinking . . .

And I try not to strain my brain when I do, but it's time I thought about summer plans.  Hubby will be laid off in about 3 weeks.  He's usually off all summer.  I am taking classes this summer in order to graduate in December.  We put on a garden and I can and freeze and dehydrate everything I can.  I have a flat of strawberries in the freezer now just waiting to be made into strawberry jam.  I may tackle that next week.  I have plenty of green beans that were canned.  I just opened my last jar of salsa a few days ago and only have 2 quarts of tomato juice and 3 pints of spaghetti sauce left.  Fortunately because of hubby's great hunting skill, we still have deer in the freezer.

My summer plans are to garden as much as possible.  I sit on pins and needles just waiting for the garden to start coming in.  But because of all the rain Kentucky has had, the garden isn't even broken up yet.  My Grandmother says as long as it's in the ground by the end of May I'm still in good shape.  I have to pull everything up, get all the tomato stakes out and get it tilled up.

I saved purple hull pea seed from last year.  It was the first time ever that I'd grown them and it will be a permanent fixture in the garden.  Easy to grow, harvest, and freeze.  I also saved cantaloupe seed and butter nut squash seed that will go out.  I'm also planting corn, banana peppers, jalapenos, and of course my all time favorite - TOMATOES!!  No meal is complete without a homegrown, still warm from the sun, tomato.  Oh yes, let's not forget cucumbers.  The boys HAVE to have their dill pickles.

People are surprised that I can.  I'm told it's too complicated, too much work, etc.  It can be complicated for a beginner, but information is out there if you just look and ask questions!  I don't even consider it work.  I enjoy gardening.  I love seeing my little pantry stocked with jar after jar after jar.  It's "my thing".  I truly love doing it.

Mustard relish

Pickled eggs

Squash pickles, dill pickles, and salsa

Apples

Spaghetti sauce and mustard relish

Green beans going into jars for canning

Tomato juice

Strawberry lemon marmalade

What are you plans this summer?

Mmmm a taste of summer

Last summer I put up several jars of freezer jam.  My all time favorite is strawberry.  It honestly doesn't get any better than strawberry freezer jam. 

My neighbor brought over a basket of peaches from the local peach orchard.  They were considered "seconds".  When I eat peaches, nectarines, plums, etc.  I prefer them rather firm, but when making freezer jam, the juicier the peach, the better the jam.

My mom had given me some fresh blueberries last summer, too.  Now I don't eat fresh blueberries, but I do bake with them. 

Then a lightbulb went off . . . why not make peach blueberry freezer jam???  I gave a jar to my mom who swore it was the best she'd ever had and her jar lasted a week.  Because my favorite is strawberry, I had never opened one the peach blueberry jars.  Until today.

I had a loaf of Paula Deen's beer bread which I toasted, smeared with butter and topped with the freshly opened jar of preserves.

Is there a specific food that when you eat it, it reminds you so much of a particular season? 

Have a great weekend!

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart

This is a great little book that one of my classes used a few semesters ago.  It isn't a self-help book, nor is it a text book.  It's just a great little book to read.  It's written by Dr. Gordon Livingston and it details 30 things we should know.

One of my favorites is "Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses".  This one rings true for me personally.

It's true, I have certain personality characteristics that that some may lovingly refer to as obsessive.  I don't consider myself a perfectionist but I do wants things I do completed in a specific way.  Take my homework for instance.  Anything less than an A simply WILL NOT DO.  It drives me to the brink of insanity just thinking about a B.

When I am making a special dish or creating one of the boy's birthday cakes

It has to be JUST right.

It's too bad I'm not so obsessive with spring cleaning.  It's a standing joke in my family that I am a terrible "housekeeper".  Wait a minute... stop thinking that thought you're thinking...  now if company unexpectedly drops by the house is usually clean enough that I don't have to stop them at the door to tell them the house is under quarantine for the dreaded lily-livered chicken snout pox but my baseboards are dusty, there are crumbs on the table from breakfast, and the beds are unmade.

However, my dear little sister's house is so clean you could literally eat off the floor.  Really, you could, if you so desired.  She has ALWAYS been like that.  I can remember her as a little girl with banana curls actually [GASP] asking Mom what she could clean.  Holy Lysol!  Can you imagine???

Needless to say, I prefer to spend my time wallowing in my dust with my nose in a book.  She used to get so mad when I would curl up with a book. 

The moral of today's blog is a simple one.  Don't let your perfectionistic tendencies  wear you down.  Take a breath and realize it is ok if I get a B, it is ok if you can play tic tac toe in the dust on your baseboards - as long as you are happy.

Grandmother's Sunday Chocolate Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar


4 Tbsp. flour

5 Tbsp. cocoa powder

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. butter flavor extract

prebaked pie shell



Meringue

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup sugar

In a medium pan, combine sugar, flour, and cocoa and mix well. Slowly add milk. Slightly beat the yolks and add to chocolate mixture. Add the butter. Cook until thick, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add extract. Pour into prebaked shell and top with meringue.




For meringue, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy and slowly add sugar. Beat until still peaks form. Top pie with meringue and bake at 350 degrees until meringue is golden.




This is truly the best chocolate pie EVER!!!