Raspberry ribbon pie tonight!
Better than the Best
Yesterday morning we picked lots of blueberries at the local u-pick farm. Buckets full - close to twenty pounds. It was our third trip to the farm this year and I have only frozen a few trays of them. We have been eating them like CRAZY.Later in the day, I rolled out some dough for cinnamon rolls and spread it with butter, brown, sugar, and cinnamon...There on the counter was a big bowl of fresh picked blueberries. So, I tossed a bunch of those on the dough and rolled it up.
(my helper had to get a photo too)
They really turned out great. I was so eager to try them that I put the frosting on as soon as the came out of the oven, I should have waited a couple of minutes for that.
They were so good that I'm making them again today!I know that I posted my cinnamon roll recipe as the Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls but I think we have succeeded in making the best BETTER!
Baking
We're having another busy weekend.
I've been baking.
Foraged Food
We had a cool rainy weekend which, I understand, is great morel weather.We made quite a haul today.
And they were not tiny either.
We'll be having some mushrooms in our dinner tonight.
Brownie Roll-Out Cookies
P and I make some Brownie Roll-Out Cookies this week.
They are great when they are still warm out of the oven.
They are also excellent for home made ice cream sandwiches.P has made this recipe for us to try next. She calls them Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
2 sticks butter3 cups sugar4 cups cinnamon5 cups chocolate chips
Movie Night
Movie night means more than just watching a movie. To me it means popcorn, knitting AND a movie!Some of us here really like our popcorn. I have been loyal to one national brand for a really long time. A few weeks ago, however, I saw some RED popcorn in our store. In addition to being red it was also locally grown so I had to give it a try. Am I glad I did? You bet! It has a much better taste; it actually tastes like CORN!Yesterday we tried their white popcorn. This popped even better and had a great corny taste.
There's another reason to support local - it might even be better. This is!Oh, and the knitting.I finished some socks for B. They are basic men's crew socks made from Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn.
I also started some fingerless mitts. I love this pattern. It is an easy to memorize rib pattern that I can even manage during an action/suspense film!
The mitts are from the leftover yarn from this hat.
Double Chocolate Cherry Drops
Yesterday was the 100th day of school. P was home with a cold and was feeling disappointed that she was missing the 100 day festivities so we decided to make a favorite recipe and have our own celebration.Santa brought M and B each a FOUR POUND BOX of dried cherries for Christmas. We have been using them to make Double Chocolate Cherry Drops and B has also been putting them in his granola when he makes it.My mother-in-law gave us the recipe for the chocolate cookies. We love it and make them with one change - we substitute honey for the corn syrup.
P counted out 100 dried cherries and 100 chocolate chunks to go in the cookies.Double Chocolate Cherry Drops1 3/4 cup flour3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa1/4 tsp salt1 cup (2 sticks) butter1/4 cup honey1 cup sugar1 large egg2 tsp vanilla extract1 cup chocolate chips1 cup dired cherries (cut in half for smaller pieces)1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.2. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt.3. I large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in honey, vanilla, and egg until well mixed. Gradually add the flour mixture until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chunks and cherries.4. Drop cookes by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-11 minutes or until tops are just firm. Cool on wire rack.Serve with Milk! Thanks for the cherries Santa!!
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
B heard about this great pumpkin recipe on NPR Friday - Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good.We just had to try it with one of our pumpkins. I pretty much followed the recipe but also added a couple of apples. They had gotten soft and no one was going to eat them unless they were cooked with something.
If there had been more room in the pumpkin I also would have added some leftover potatoes from the fridge.
Oh. My. It was GOOD!I could also see this as a dessert dish with apples and cinnamon in a pudding like center. We may have to try that too. It is a good thing we have some pumpkins left.
The Pear Experiments - Pear Ice Cream!
Last night in an effort to use up the last of the pears we remade the Italian Pear Cake. This time we added cinnamon and chocolate chips - a brilliant addition if I do say so myself.With last week's peach ice cream fresh on our minds we thought we'd try pear ice cream with the cake. D used the same recipe but substituted pears.Have you ever had pear ice cream? It was DELICIOUS!I don't think he measured anything but the basic recipe is something like this:1 cup cream1/2 cup milk1/2 cup fruit (I think he used more pear than this)1/8 tsp vanilla extract1/2 cup sugarMix the ingredients with a blender and then pour into the frozen ice cream maker, ours is similar to this but smaller. Churn until frozen.The ice cream was surprisingly pear flavored.Really.It was excellent. We had to eat the ice cream quickly so I don't have a photo of that. But trust me, it was good.I have some pears set aside in the fridge for another batch!
Italian Pear Cake
We have a bumper crop of pears again this year. After eating, freezing, and canning three bushels of purchased peaches we now have lots of pears from our trees. Yesterday, we tried this Italian Pear Cake. It used quite a few pears and tasted pretty yummy.
We could possibly be getting lots of raspberries too but we haven't battled the pumpkin vines to find them all yet. The pumpkins have grown from their patch up and over all of the raspberry plants.
I am busy cooking and canning tomato sauce every couple of days and this weekend will be trying my hand at canning pears. The canned peaches turned out great so we thought we would try the pears.Ahhh. This is August.
Pesto Time
We braved the mosquitoes yesterday long enough to pull the garlic scapes. We added some to our dinner last night but there are still quite a few left.
I'll be making and freezing some pesto today.I quilted some yesterday and finally got in the groove with the new machine but I ran out of the thread I was using in the bobbin. I will have to wait for more thread to get the whole thing finished but I like the way it is turning out. It is a beautiful thing when the tension is right and the stitches look great on BOTH sides of the quilt. Sigh.
Today is a cooler, crispier day so we are heading out for a bike ride around the block. Our block is over four miles round trip; not that far, really, but considering that I haven't ridden my bike for over five and a half years I think it will be far enough for me.
Thoughtful Sunday
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937.
There's a Fungus Among Us
We've been enjoying more of the beautiful outdoors. The recent rain and sun combination was good for the morels. We collected a full basket yesterday.
P and I also went to "Kindergarten Round-Up". She was thrilled with the little bus ride across the railroad tracks and back.
Thoughtful Sunday
"There was nothing but pie. But there were all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best. When Harold finished his picnic there was quite a lot left. He hated to see so much delicious pie go to waste. So Harold left a very hungry moose and a deserving porcupine to finish it up."Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson, 1955.
Pie Day
I seem to learn a lot of things on flickr these days. I checked in this morning and learned that today is National Pie Day. So, naturally I made a pie.
Put it on your calendars for next year. January 23 - National Pie Day.If you're quick you still have time to make a pie tonight!I mixed up a pie crust and used this easy recipe with blueberries from the freezer.
Happy Pie Day.If you missed the celebration today you get another chance on March 14: Pi Day.
Double the Fun
Every major clean up project needs a snack break.
Today's clean up required two.
That ceiling is coming down TOMORROW!Back to work. Today's portion of the sewing room clean included sewing a doll quilt top together. Now I don't have to worry about losing parts to that project.---------Peppermint bark is WAY easier to make than I thought.Melt. Pour. Melt. Pour. Sprinkle.It is THAT easy.It might be a really bad thing that I stocked up on candy canes when they were on sale after Christmas.
Around the House
In making some of my most recent projects I had to dive deep into my yarn supply. I ended up getting ALL of my wool out and taking inventory. I have a lot of yarn for some really pretty socks and need to get working on some of those. I also found quite a bit of odd bits of wool left from other projects. I think I need to make a stripey pair of elf shoes and use some of that up. The cleaning and organizing has gotten the creative juices flowing for me. I have some designs floating in my head now but my sewing room looks like something exploded in here.I know you don't want to see a picture of that so I'll show you what we did in the kitchen instead.
Peanut butter cups and marshmallows. There is some great snacking going on here. After all the fuss of filling those paper cups we think that trying them in layers like peppermint bark might be the way to go.I have stocked up on candy canes so peppermint bark is next on the candy making list.
Play Time
P and I had a play day today. I got to wear my fantabulous vintage apron that was in my stocking while we prepared a tea party with some of P's new (vintage) tea party stuff. Ack. I can hardly stand the cuteness of it all --the "Three Little Kittens" dishes, those little ice cream bowls, and wood handle utensils. And don't you just love that tiny cake holder???!!!
We set out this morning making some tiny shortbread cookies.
After the first tray which only held four tiny cookies we switched to a slightly larger play tray. The tiny cookies bake in about half the time of the regular cookies.
We also made a tiny layer cake to fit in that little cake holder. With the cake, ice cream, cookies, and milk it was a fun party! And the servings weren't so big that they spoiled dinner.
Actually, the boys said that you could accidentally inhale one of those cookies and never even notice!Boys.What do they know? I guess that is why they were not invited to the party.
Apple Pumpkin Muffins
This is a redo of the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins that we like so much. I had to take snack to preschool this week and didn't want to put chocolate in the muffins so I tried apple instead. They turned out super!!Apple Pumpkin Muffins1 1/2 cup flour1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour2 teaspoons baking soda2 teaspoons baking powder2 teaspoons cinnamon1 teaspoon ground ginger1/2 teaspoon grounds nutmeg1/4 teaspoon cloves1/2 teaspoon salt3 eggs3/4 cup brown sugar2/3 cup applesauce1/3 cup vegetable oil2 cups cooked and pureed pumpkin (or one 15 oz can)several apples cut in pieces (I used three apples of different varieties for a good flavor mix)Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Mix flours, and other dry ingredients together in a bowl.In a different bowl, beat the eggs and add oil, applesauce, pumpkin.Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir in the apple pieces.Bake 20 minutes.Makes 24 muffins.
Gratitude
I am grateful for the abundance of food in our garden.
