Thursday, June 1, 2017

Panna Cotta

This has become a favorite dessert around our house lately.  I made it several months ago when a dear friend came for dinner.  I've had the recipe for several years and finally got around to making it.  It is easy and a good make ahead dessert. I was curious about this dessert because it has balsamic vinegar and black pepper in it.  Unusual! but very delicious.  You'll have to try it.

1/2 packet (1 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin powder
1 1/2 Tablespoon cold water
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1/3 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon
In a small bowl sprinkle gelatin onto the cold water, stir and let stand 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl whisk 3/4 cup of cream, yogurt, vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds.  Take the remaining cream and sugar and heat it bringing it to a simmer over low heat.  Off the heat add the gelatin to the hot cream mixture and stir well until combined.  Then add the hot mixture to the yogurt and vanilla mixture and stir until well combined.  Now pour into 4  (6-8 ounce) ramekins and refrigerate uncovered until cold.  Cover with plastic wrap if it sits over night.
Run a knife around the inside edge of the ramekin and dip the bottom of the ramekin into hot water to loosen the panna cotta. Then invert the panna cotta onto a dessert dish and cover with strawberries.

2 pints strawberries (4 cups) sliced
2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Combine the above ingredients and mix well.  Let this stand for at least 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

My Garden


For the past two years, I haven't been able to have a garden. This year it is tomatoes, herbs, lettuces and some Swiss Chard.  This is where the tomatoes are planted and I have some herbs planted here too.  I took this picture after I was finished staking and caging the tomatoes.  I love it!  There is nothing that smells like a tomato plant......I love that smell and I have missed it!

All of my raised beds have deteriorated so we are going to replace them this year.  Cedar raised beds will last a life time but we used some regular lumber and those lasted almost 20 years, which I was happy with.  We still don't plan on using cedar, too expensive!

We are having a big work day on the farm today.  Our kids are coming down to help us split all the wood from the trees that were cut down.  Gary rented a splitter so that will make fast work of it. 

Can you believe that it is the end of May?  I can't, this year is flying by !
Have a wonderful Saturday, the weather looks beautiful.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Monday, May 15, 2017

Table Setting




This was for a special Sunday dinner.  I had been looking at tablecloths and hadn't found anything I really liked.  This table cloth is one I picked up at a garage sale.  It's an old 40's print and I love it.  It's a square table cloth so I centered it in the middle of the table.  I don't have a full set of my good china anymore so I mixed my everyday dishes with my china.  As you can see, I mixed a more dressy placemat with a more casual one.  For a table, just using what you have on hand, I really liked the way it turned out.  Wanted to share it with you. 


Saturday, April 29, 2017

April, What a month!

Whew!  What a busy month.  The dumpster was filled and is gone.  I was getting a little concerned that we might not have enough room for everything, but we did.  We emptied out the barns and our huge metal building.  We had a huge family garage sale and a lot of people were blessed with a lot of treasures and some really nice clothes.  We have a lot extra room inside and outside of our home.  :)  I still have a pile of magazines to go through in our reading room.  Laughing, this is hard for me.  When I look through magazines I see recipes I want to keep or ideas and instead of pulling it out at the time, I think I will go back and do it later. Thus, a huge pile!  I've decided I'm not looking at the magazines just going to throw them away and it's really hard for me to do that. But I'm doing it.  :)  I will then be finished with the clean out.  Yeah! 

I got my tomatoes and herbs planted the first of the month and they are coming right along.  As you can see, to the right of the picture is our original garden spot with our raised beds.  They had deteriorated so bad, we pulled everything up and we are going to put in new raised beds this year.  With everything else that's going on, tomatoes and herbs will be all I can handle. I planted the tomatoes in our old chicken pen so they should do great.
  I started a new compost pile.  I tried doing the separate compartments but it was hard to turn and just didn't work for me.  This style is easy - just throw it in, I use grass clippings, dirt, some fertilizer and water.  I had a potato plant growing in the middle of the compost a few days ago.  I can never say enough about how great it is to have a compost pile.  It is truly black gold and you literally see the growth difference in your plants when you use it.  I hadn't had a compost pile in quit a while and I started feeling guilty throwing all the veggie clippings and everything else that is good into the trash.  So, a year ago I started it up again.  This time it is a lot easier for me to handle. 

Our little hummingbirds have returned and I have already refilled the feeders once.  They are so cute and hungry.  This year they are perching on the fence around my herb garden, sitting on my rose bush limbs and really going after the lavender blooms.  Get a feeder if you don't have one, they are a joy to watch.

This is something I'm really excited about. I was called and asked to teach a gardening class at a home for mothers-to-be.  They are just getting there raised beds in.  We are a little behind the gun as far as the planting schedule is concerned but it won't matter.  I think it is going to be fun and I'm looking forward to it. 

This month we also celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary.  Forty-three years......that's a long time.
I like this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, Success in marriage depends on being able, when you get over being in love, to really love.  That says it all for me.  We received a wonderful surprise from our children for our anniversary, an Alaskan Cruise.  Wow! Very generous and giving human beings.

The outer is supposed to be a reflection of the inner.  All of the clean out just evolved none of it was planned.  Things have already started to change in our lives.  I'm excited!  In the later part of our lives I'm expecting adventure and fun!






Sunday, April 23, 2017

A Beautiful Sunday Morning

I sat and watched the sun come up this morning and everything is so clean, bright green and fresh.  It's Spring! 

It's going to be a beautiful day!

xo

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Thomas Jefferson Quotes

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of
good government.

I cannot live without books.