Peanut Butter Cookies

This is the best peanut butter cookie recipe I have ever tasted.  This recipe belongs to my sister and these are just wonderful cookies.  Crisp around the edges and soft and chewy inside.  When I'm tired of chocolate chip cookies (did I actually say when I tired of chocolate chip) :) that doesn't happen very often, this is a recipe I always turn too.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup peanut butter, (I like chunky)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda

Put butter, white and brown sugar, salt, eggs, and peanut butter in mixing bowl and mix well.  Then add flour and soda and continue mixing until flour is well incorporated. Then roll into the size of walnut or bigger if you like and place on a greased cookie sheet. 
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Scrumptious Cherry Tomatoes

I laughed at Mrs. Wheelbarrow's blog because she said at this time of the year you are making many visits to your neighbors delivering bags of tomatoes and zucchini the size of baseball bats. You almost become overrun in the garden.  So true!  All my tomato vines are huge and they are bended the tomato cages over.  I can barely keep all the cherry tomatoes picked.  What a great problem I know but my back doesn't think so.  I can bend all the way over and do great but bending just a the waist is hard.

I didn't know what to call this recipe but with all the seasonings the recipe is very scrumptious.  This is a combination of several recipes that I've seen and I changed a few things and made it my own.

I covered a large cookie sheet with cherry tomatoes.
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
7 green onions, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Cheese spread
4-6 ounces of feta cheese
2 ounces cream cheese
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

After you put cherry tomatoes on cookie sheet drizzle with olive oil and add minced garlic and toss.  Put in oven on broil and cook for about 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and drizzle red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar over tomatoes and stir.  Add green onions and salt and pepper and mix well.

Toast several slices of sour dough bread or your bread of choice.  When is toasted remove and put a generous amount of the cheese spread on the bread then put several large servings of the tomato mixture on top of the cheese.   You want to use an artisan bread because a regular loaf of bread doesn't do well.

This also taste wonderful with basil pesto spread over the bread in place of the cheese mixture and then topped with the tomatoes.  Which ever spread you choose, it taste wonderful!

An Old Fashioned Dessert

This is a wonderful and easy dessert.  Let me underline wonderful.  With just three ingredients you won't believe how amazing this is. I was given this recipe years ago from my Sunday school director.  She had several women over to her home for lunch and this was dessert.  I loved it and asked if I could have the recipe.  She was gracious and gave it to me along with the story of how her mother always made this for company because it was so inexpensive and wonderful. When she told me it was made of only three ingredients, I was shocked.  Not only does it taste wonderful but I love the way it looks.  It looks like it was difficult to make, like you have stacked tiny layers of some sort of cake.

Ok, the three ingredients......Graham crackers, heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar.

1 box Graham crackers
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup of powdered sugar

First whip your heavy cream.  I add the cream to a large glass bowl and starting whipping the cream until it gets a little thick then add the powdered sugar and whip until stiff.  Don't over whip the cream or you will have butter.  There are three individual packages of Graham crackers in a box.  I used two packages to make this square.  Take the first two crackers and put a little whipped cream of the bottom of each to secure it to the plate.  Place the two crackers side by side.  Now spread some cream on top of the two crackers.  You want about 1/4 of an inch of whipping cream between the layers.  The Graham crackers will soak up some of the cream and they become soft.  Continue this process until you have used up both packages. Then cover the top and sides with the whipping cream and keep in frig until ready to serve.  It needs to set several hours before you serve it.  You can get about 7 slices from this size cake.  For a larger crowd you could make two cakes and arrange them on a large platter and garnish the edges with fresh mint and some blue berries or black berries. The cake itself makes a pretty presentation after it's sliced.

The first of summer Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) on Food Network said she asked the top caterer in the Hamptons what their most popular dessert was and it was similar to this.  It was very thin chocolate chip cookies put into a spring foam pan and then whipping cream was layered between the cookies.  I think that would be so rich you couldn't eat it.  It would have to be very thin slices.  To me the Graham crackers are rich.

I hope you try this.  Your family and friends will love it!  And it is sooooo easy.  :)

Decorating Ideas

I thought the idea of the pictures on the front of kitchen cabinets was unique.  I have never seen that before. As much as I love pictures of my children sitting around I don't know if I would like them on my kitchen cabinets.  I love the idea but I think I would prefer pictures of special places (if you are a world traveler), or for me living in the country maybe antique barns or farm implements.  Use your imagination, I think you could come up with some really great ideas.

I've always loved the built in booth.  It takes a special place but I love the look. 

Rearranging Wall Grouping

Whew!!  I finally finished getting the house cleaned late yesterday evening. Now, I can forget about that for another 6 months.  Just kidding. :)   This is a grouping of different things in our breakfast room.  The top picture is the old picture of the grouping for the last 10 years.  The bottom is the new grouping.  I'm really enjoying it!  The flowered plates belonged to my mother-in-law and I painted them for her.  They were one of the first gifts I ever gave her.  Well, just another example of changing things around and giving your home the feel of something new.

Made a new arrangement for the breakfast room.

Well, I'm off to the garden to enjoy this beautiful cool weather and to pull lots and lots of weeds.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend enjoying the things you love to do.

Making Do!

I spend so much time outside in the spring and summer that the inside of my house suffers.  The little spiders have a hay day because no one bothers them. Well, I couldn't stand it anymore, so for the last two days I have been doing some deep cleaning.  It feels and looks a lot better.  I will finish up today.  I was thinking last night how I used to clean our whole house in one day and take care of four children.  I don't know how I did it.  I sure don't have that energy anymore. 

I know that most women are not like this but I love changing things in the house.  It makes me feel like things are new and it gives me new things to look at that makes me feel good.  While I was cleaning our bedroom yesterday these are two little changes I made in our room that I love.  Just small things but they make a difference.  My aunt gave me a chaise lounge years ago and I love it but I have never liked the upholstery, it's pink.  Does not go with our bedroom but it has been in there.  I have found the perfect material to upholster it but haven't had the extra funds.  So, I picked up several old quilts at garage sales several years ago.  I went and got one of them out of my work shop and put the back side of the quilt over the chaise lounge and it looks somewhat like I have a slip cover and it covers up that horrible pink.  I loved it!  This is what I call "making do" or using what you have at hand.  The other little change I made was on a floor lamp in our room.  I took a pretty small grape vine wreath and wrapped a piece of rose vine that I had laying around and then attached it to the lamp shade.  I also love the way this looks too. Our bedspread is roses so this looks good.

These small changes really spruced up our bedroom and I loved it.  I sat in there last night and just enjoyed it.  I really enjoy our home and I am very thankful for it.  You wouldn't drive by our home and lust after it and think, "oh I want a home like that" but our home is filled with us and who we are and it has this wonderful feeling and your home can too.  Make it into who you are!

Some of the Beauty of Summer

This is beautiful to me and  I love all the colors.