Happy Nesting!

I recently picked up a bird nest in the yard while I was working outside. I find them occasionally when the wind literally comes sweeping down the plain and up roots the tiny fragile homesteads.

I find it so interesting that there is sometimes some odd piece of something that does not even relate to a birds nest. A little piece of cord or a strip of material interwoven into all the twigs, straw and soft feathers of the nest. I wondered what made the bird pick this up. Was it the color or that it sparkled.....who knows. It was carefully woven into the beautiful design of the nest.

This is such a picture of how I am with my home and I think a lot of women are like this. My motto is, "if it puts a smile on my face it comes home to my place." I know there is no such thing as a perfectly designed room. If there is, it's not lived in. Rooms are treasures of our hearts, collages of our lives. They contain things that seem a little wacky or eccentric but when pulled together with love everything fits.

So how can I judge the little nest with it's odd piece of cord. The bird wove the cord into it's nest because the bird saw it and loved it.

Roses

Some of the last roses of summer.

A new twist on Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies? As hard as this is for me to believe, I do have several friends and relatives who can take chocolate or leave it. So if chocolate is your forte then I think you will love this recipe.

I buy whole wheat bread from a bakery and they also make the most wonderful peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. I have thought about those cookies a lot and this recipe is what I have come up with. Not quite what the bakery makes but they are pretty good.

Just use the Nestle's chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the package and add
1 cup of Smucker's Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter
1 cup of oatmeal
1 cup of coconut
1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans (coarsely chopped)
Mix altogether and bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about 13-15 minutes.

California Cobb Salad

This is a recipe I have wanted to try all summer and every time I mentioned it my family they turned up their noses. Last night, I made it even though I was getting negative vibes from some of my family. It really turned out great! My husband went on and on about it. I hadn't really planned to put it on my blog but after I took one bite and my husband took a bite he said "get the camera and take a picture and put this on your blog." It is a very flavorful salad and we loved it.

This will be a long time favorite at our home and I hope you enjoy it too!

1 Head of Romaine or Red Leaf Lettuce
1 Head of Butter Bib Lettuce (I used half of this for 4 servings)
2 large ears of fresh corn
2 medium zucchini
4 medium tomatoes (cut in fourths, then sliced medium)
2 avocados (cut in medium chunks)
4 cloves of chopped garlic
2 bags of jumbo shrimp (about 26 shrimp per bag) raw, quick peel
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons of Agave Nectar
salt and pepper to taste

Remove shell and clean shrimp. Put clean shrimp in bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper and chopped fresh garlic. Mix well and sit aside. Shuck the corn and trim off the ends of the zucchini and cut the zucchini in half. Start your grill. When the grill is ready lay the corn and zucchini on the grill. Lay the zucchini cut side down. I have a grilling basket that I put my shrimp in on the other side of the grill. So the veggies are on one side and the shrimp are cooking on the other side. The shrimp will cook in about 7 to 10 minutes. Watch it closely. As soon as the shrimp turn pink they are cooked. Keep turning your corn and I turned the zucchini once. When the shrimp is done I removed the veggies also. I had already prepared my lettuce and had it cut in my salad bowl along with the avocados and tomatoes. When veggies have cooled to touch slice the zucchini in chunks and slice the corn off of the cob. Add to salad. Pour dressing over salad and toss well.
You can arrange the salad on the plate and place the shrimp on the top of the salad or you can add the shrimp when you add the corn and zucchini and toss the shrimp into the salad. I arrange the shrimp on the top of the salad.

Admitting Defeat

If you have been following my blog, I started heirloom tomatoes from seed and my goal was to save seeds from the tomatoes and be able to plant those seeds next year. I'm sad to say my heirloom tomatoes didn't make it through the heat. I have learned a lot this year from starting my plants from seeds. And I'm anxious to try again next year. It's true that there is always hope in a gardner's heart.

I first started my tomatoes to late. I started the seeds in February and next year I will probably start them the first of January. The plants were too tender to survive such blazing heat.

Well, my motto is "try, try again!"

Coming Home to the Country

These are some of my favorite things. Beautiful sunrise, our barn, our neighbor cutting our field and baling the hay and the look of the baled hay setting in the field.

Ah, country life!

Lemon Cucumbers

I went to our little farmer's market yesterday morning and found something I had never seen before, "a lemon cucumber." They are really cute. A little bigger than a lemon and they smell lemony and the flavor was a big surprise. As I was cutting it up in a salad last night I tasted it and it was wonderful. Sort of sweet, it first reminded me of a sweet cantaloupe but it's not totally the cantaloupe taste. Anyway, if you see any, try them they are wonderful. Saturday, when I go back to our farmer's market I hope there are more. I will definitely buy a lot of them and I'm going to look for seeds to grow them next year.