My Crudites Platter

We celebrated our daughter's birthday over the weekend.  She requested this platter as part of her birthday dinner.  We all loved it.  In January, I had a blog post on a crudités platter that I did for a client.  I just posted a picture of the veggies.  This is how I arrange our platter.  We had fingerling potatoes, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, asparagus, cucumbers, and Jacama with a wonderful buttermilk peppercorn dip.  The recipe is on that January blog post for the dip.

I made a wonderful baked cheese dip that you eat with crusty chunks of baguette bread.  I'll post it tomorrow with pictures. 

Strawberry Muffins with Strawberry Butter

This is quick recipe for fresh baked goods.  It requires minimal preparation and will yield maximum enjoyment.  For a quick breakfast, mix the dry ingredients the night before and in the morning all you have to do is stir in the wet ingredients and bake.  Ready in a quick 20 minutes and there is nothing like warm muffins in the morning.

1 (10 ounce) package frozen sliced strawberries, thawed and undrained.  I already had whole frozen
     berries so I just sliced them.
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/3 cup oil (I used coconut oil)

Reserve 2 to 3 berries for the strawberry butter.
Stir together flour and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.  Stir
together remaining strawberries, milk, eggs, and oil until blended.  Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.  Spoon batter into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove pans immediately and serve with Strawberry butter.
Makes 15 muffins

Strawberry Butter

1/2 cup butter
2-3 strawberries
Put in a food processor or blender.  Blend until well mixed.

Before and After Pictures of the Garden

The pictures are mixed up and sorry about that.  But you can see the improvements.  We are moving right a long.  The old work boot I stained and put a sealer on it and I will put it at the corner of that raised bed.   Gary has helped me a lot and our daughter came down and helped on her spring break. With everyone pitching in we are about to get it pulled into shape.  In the far bed, that doesn't have any wood around it yet is the asparagus bed and at each end of the asparagus bed we planted sugar snap peas.

Pecan Fudge Pie

This is one of those easy recipes that is sinful.  Fudgy, rich, and decadent.  This recipe suggest a raspberry sauce as a desired topping and I know that would be wonderful.  But the night I made this I didn't have any raspberries so I made a chocolate sauce topping and served it with too much whipping cream.  :)

This is the recipe.....enjoy!  xo

1/2 cup butter
2 (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chopped pecans, roasted

Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate squares in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly; removed from heat.
Beat eggs at medium speed with a mixer 2 minutes.  Gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating until blended.  Gradually add chocolate mixture, flour, vanilla, and salt, beating until blended.  Stir in 2/3 cup chopped pecans.
Pour mixture into lightly greased 9 inch pie plate.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until center is firm.  Serve pie warm with Raspberry or Chocolate sauce and any other desired toppings.

Raspberry Sauce
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (16 ounce) package frozen raspberries (do not thaw)

Cook syrup and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves.  Add raspberries and cook, stirring constantly 10 minutes or until thickened.  Pour mixture through fine wire mesh strainer and press with back of spoon against sides of strainer to squeeze out sauce, discarding solids.  Yield: 1 cup

Chocolate Sauce

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, and chocolate morsels in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until chocolate melts and mixture boils.  Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla.  Yield: 1 cup

My Hoosier as a Coffee Station

My daughter sent me a text last week suggesting that I turn our Hoosier into a coffee station.  I told her I loved the idea and quickly made the change.  I love it!  It made more room on the counter tops in the kitchen which I really need.  Gary and I have started having our morning coffee in the breakfast room now instead of the living room.  It's bright and cheerful in this room.  A great way to start the day.

Thanks for the suggestion Katie, anymore creative ideas?  I can always use some.   :)

First Day of Spring

Yippee!  First day of spring and I'm ready.  My daughter came down yesterday and we planted sugar snap peas and asparagus. I have a huge asparagus patch.  We planted 40 crowns.  About ten years ago I had an asparagus patch but it wasn't that big.  It became over run with weeds and I didn't save it. I want to do better this time. The former patch did last about 5 years and we really enjoyed the asparagus. I hope this one does well.   I have a lot more I want to get planted before the weekend is
over. 

Have a great day!

xo

Mosaic Pot

I have almost completed my mosaic pot.  Just doing the fill in work on it now and then I will grout it and put on a sealer.  I'm anxious to start the next one.  I am going to do it in vegetables and put it in my vegetable garden.  I'll be showing you the finished product before long.

You'll have to try one of these.  They are colorful and will really be an eye catcher in your garden.

Cola Cake

I'm off to see my sons today.  I was at their apartment recently and they had Little Debbie snack boxes sitting around so I had to step in.  I made this wonderful Cola Cake and I'm taking it to them today.  I haven't made this in years and ran across the recipe, remembered how good it was and decided to make it.  Sometimes, I get hungry for just a good piece of chocolate cake with wonderful chocolate icing and I forgot how well this fills the bill.  It is rich, moist and I had a piece while it was still warm. Oh my goodness.  I really wasn't hungry the rest of the day.  It is so rich and satisfying.

The boys won't mind that two pieces are gone....Gary had one too.  :)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup cola flavored carbonated beverage
1 cup butter
2 tablespoons coco
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups miniature marshmallows

Combine flour, soda, and sugar; stir well and set aside.
Combine cola, butter and coco in a heavy saucepan; bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Gradually stir into flour mixture.  Stir in buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and marshmallows.  Pour into a greased and floured 13x9 dish.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.  Top with cola frosting while cake is still warm.

Cola Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cola flavored carbonated beverage
3 tablespoons coco
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine butter, cola and coco in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Before I put this on the cake I put it on medium heat just to warm it up a bit maybe a minute and then poured it over the warm cake.  The icing had become cool and was a little thick and this help thin it.

A Beautiful Teaching

I was reading recently about a teaching from the Hopis, a Native American nation.  It said, "in their educational system, if a student did not know the answer to a question asked of him or her in the classroom, no other student would raise a hand to answer that question.  It was considered rude and uncivilized to embarrass or humiliate the first student.  It was not important to impress the teacher with one's own brilliance, and it was thought to be barbaric to advance oneself at the expense of one's peers."

Isn't that a wonderful teaching.  I have vivid memories in grade school being asked questions and not knowing the answer.  I just wanted to melt into the floor. Then the feeling of not being very smart because I couldn't answer the question.  Unfortunately, in our culture, in our "civilized" culture we are taught to get all you can and can all you can get.  Always, to profit at the expense of others never considering the feelings of those you step on making your way to the top.

Buttercup Squash S'mores

I don't remember exactly when I told you about Heartland Table on the Food Network but I told you how wonderful it was and I never saw it again until this past Saturday.  It was on again and I was so excited.  I want to try everything she makes.  She is an absolute wonderful cook and I love her style. I want to tell you to try and catch her again on Saturday but I don't know if she will be on.  I did notice that she will be on this afternoon at 4:30 and it will be a rerun of Saturday.  Try to catch her show, I think you will like it.

Ok, she took a buttercup squash and cut in half and scooped out all the seeds and drizzled with olive and salt and pepper to taste. Placed it on a greased cookie sheet and baked it at 350 for one hour.  Scooped out the pulp and add about 2-3 tablespoons of butter, 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 ounces of cream cheese.  Mix all of this together on low heat until the butter and cream cheese has melted. 

Now instead of graham crackers she used an artisan bread and made a thin diagonal cut and toasted the bread.  Smeared some of the buttercup squash then topped it with some good chopped dark chocolate and then topped that with a roasted marshmellow.

I can't tell you how wonderful this looked.  Aw....it made me so hungry and I can't wait to try this.  She also made swiss chard with honey roasted garlic and this look wonderful also.  I hope she gets a regular show time because I think she is a wonderful cook.

New Life Style Changes

There it is, the ole bacon grease container.  My grandmother had one of these and so did my mom and my sister has one also.  I was taught to cook with bacon drippings,  my family fried eggs in bacon drippings and we never disposed of bacon drippings.  This is pretty much a southern tradition and I'm sure all good cooks in the south has a little grease pot. 

I have been learning for quite some time about cooking oil, how it becomes rancid, what to use and what not to use and what's healthy and best for your body.  This particular bit of information has been a hard transition for me.  Old habits are harder to break.  When the recipe calls for oil I just instinctively go to the vegetable oil or olive oil and I always fry eggs in bacon grease. 

I wanted to report today that I have had a major break through and I want to share what I have learned about cooking oils.  First of all, I emptied out my grease pot of bacon grease (sorry mom and grandma) and put in coconut oil this morning from where I fried eggs for breakfast.  Yes, coconut oil and the eggs were great.  You can taste the coconut oil a little but it's great.  I also used it in my pancake batter this morning and it was great also.

Now for the information that we usually do not want to hear because it forces us to change.  Or I hope it forces us to change.  I'm changing but I will say my children have done a far better job of this than I have. Any oil, other than coconut oil or avocado oil becomes rancid when it is heated to the point to fry food.  That's right, read it again.  Olive oil should just be used for dressing food.  Drizzled over salads, pizza, fish etc.  I haven't priced avocado oil yet but I'm sure it's expensive.  I have a dear friend who is a wonderful cook and she has transitioned very easily into this new and healthy life style. There is a company she told me about called Tropical Traditions and you can buy coconut oil by the gallon and also palm shortening. This particular oil doesn't have the coconut taste.  She has made wonderful pie crust with palm shortening and I very anxious to try this because it is a lot healthier than the Crisco I use to make pie crust.  Everyone needs to do their own research on these things.  Research cooking oils and find out how they are processed, what they are made of and most important what it does to your body.  :(

Some of these changes can be expensive so I say, do what you can.  But ever little change helps and as these changes become a habit you become ready for another little change. 

This is a breakfast for champions (my retired firefighter husband).  Such a wintry days calls for pancakes and bacon.  We really don't do this often but I have to say it was delicious this morning.   I felt a little better knowing that everything was cooked with coconut oil  :)   I did hear a health expert speak once, saying, it's ok to eat a hamburger and French fries and use real potatoes and cut them or have a breakfast like we had this morning because you are not going to do this every day.  It's not like stopping by a fast food restaurant 3 or 4 or even 5 times a week and getting burgers and fries.  If you take the time to cook it at home you really are not going to do it that often and I have found this to be true for our family and me "the cook."