STRAWBERRIES AND RHUBARB

Friends are angels on earth! Have you ever noticed how they show up just when you need them and sometimes even when you didn't know you needed them? They are there in times of trouble and also in times of just because!

Just a hand full of juiciness! They are small, but mighty tasty!

Nancy DeBerg is one of those generous souls who showed up in my life. She shares her time, talents, and her plants! She shared a shovel full of her over-crowded strawberry plants with me one spring. We discovered 18 plants in that shovel full of dirt! My sweetheart JoPapa created a strawberry patch for us to plant them in and they have taken off and produced lots of deliciousness! Sometimes when I'm picking them, it difficult for me to get the berries past my mouth and into the house!

After sharing a photo of my joyful harvest, one of my cousins mentioned rather humorously, that he'd fight for some of my strawberry preserves! 
Why can't we all just get along?! 

:-D

I promise, I'll save up some strawberries and make enough preserves to share.

I also remember some of my family members love rhubarb jam.

Yes, I followed this recipe exactly!

Fortunately, one of my hobbies involves the kitchen and canning! So to keep the peace, I decided to get busy! Again, with the help of Nancy! But get this, she said my request for rhubarb was an answer to her problem of what to do with hers! We had a lovely stroll around her yard as we visited before we harvested rhubarb. And a few hours later...rhubarb jam to share!

How about some rhubarb jam on toast, biscuits, or ice cream?

Thank God for gardens, abundant harvests and friendships!

I love how God provides for us. 

Food for our bellies and food for our souls. 

Thank God for angels on earth!

THE POWER OF PRAYER

The answer to prayer

I have witnessed the transformative power power of prayer. Prayer doesn't change situations, it changes us!

She cried, "I can't do this!', "Make it stop!" "Mom!!!" "This is harder than I thought it would be."

How many times in life have we said this?

This is so hard!

And then she began to pray.
"Dear Lord give my body strength to deliver this baby." "Dear Lord give us a healthy baby."

To this day I have had the help that comes from God. Acts 26:22a

It was still difficult, I could see the pain on her face, but I also saw God's grace working in her and giving her the ability to do what she had prayed for - give birth to a baby!

Thank God for miracles!
Mother + Father + Baby = LOVE 

What joy, love, and peace filled the room and our hearts!

Have you ever witnessed the power of prayer and how it transforms a situation? If only we could remember that God is in control and allow him to guide and direct us. He never told us there would be no pain or suffering, but He did say He would be with us.

Dayna asked that I be present during her labor and delivery. What a blessing to be able to be there when Baby Fish was born! But what a difficult thing to witness my daughter suffering and in pain. What parent wants pain or suffering for their child? But we all know that suffering is a fact of life. 

Don't you think God finds it difficult to witness our pain and suffering?

And he had compassion on them. Matthew 14:14

Thank God that out of great suffering can also come great joy! This is so hard to remember when we are in the midst of suffering and great trials. That's why we pray without ceasing. 

That's why we pray for our loved ones, be they family or friends. We pray in every situation, we pray in the good times, we pray in the bad times, we pray when we can't imagine a good outcome, we pray!

Greater love has no one than this, that he should give his life for another. John 15:13

So now that Baby Fish is here, Dayna continues to sacrifice her time and energy. We know mothers have done this from the beginning of time, but it is still just a beautiful thing to see in action!

Baby Fish

So I pray:
Help us remember to allow God to take control, to give us comfort and strength to endure all things.
To God be the glory, great things he has done!
And He will continue to do if we allow Him.

Tell me your story. How have you witnessed the power of prayer in action.

THAT'S FOR THE BIRDS!

I hear you knocking, but you can't come in!
Finally, spring is here, birds are hungry and it's nesting time!

Golden Flicker...
...but I call it a woodpecker!

Those woodpeckers are active and noisy! They have been pecking on our gutters and even the chimney! Early in the morning, they peck and rattle the whole house!  I keep food for them in this covered feeder. The cover keeps the grackles/starlings out while allowing the woodpeckers access. Woodpeckers are acrobats and can cling to anything! But I wonder why they are pecking at non-wood and non-food places around my house?

A bluebird and woodpecker feeding together. Why can't we all just get along?

We used to hang a feeder out in the open and the blue birds would come eat at the same time as the woodpeckers! But, the grackles/starlings are an invasive species and we didn't want to encourage them to here.  

I dislike grackles/starlings. Someone many, many years ago, brought these birds to America because of the way they flock and fly together. Sadly, they cause problems for other birds and they also cause a disease called histoplasmosis.  This is an infection caused by the fungus found in the droppings of these birds.

Another invasive bird is the Eastern Sparrow.  It broke my heart to find a beheaded bluebird at the base of our pole beneath the bluebird nesting house in our backyard.  Yes, you read that correctly - beheaded! I did some research and discovered that sparrows compete with bluebirds for nesting space and will attack and kill bluebirds! 

If you have a nesting box in your backyard, please monitor it for sparrows.  They are very territorial and competitive. The sparrows don't give up easily and they are obviously killers!  If you know of a way to get rid of or discourage sparrows, I'm open to suggestions!

I'd prefer a flock of bluebirds in my neighborhood. They are beautiful, sing the loveliest song, and eat LOTS of mosquitoes and other bugs! (The correct term is insectivorous if you wanted to know.)

Sing along now:
"Somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly!"
I just want them to come fly around here.

STUFFED SHELLS

"Ooooo! That smells so good! What are you making?"

There's something wonderful about filling the home with delicious smells! The fragrance fills the air, whets the appetite and the anticipation builds. Are you hungry yet?

How about now?

This recipe is a family favorite from a dear neighbor who not only shared the recipe, but she also shared delicious pans of this treat! Joni Rogers is a treasure! And friends are angles on Earth!

The path between friend's houses is never very long. And neither was the path between our hearts!

As you can see, this recipe has been used many times!

Here's a clearer version for you to use.

This recipe takes a little pre-planning and preparation. The spinach must be thawed and drained well, unless you chop up fresh spinach. Then it's just a matter of boiling the pasta shells according to the package directions,...

Italian sausage, hamburger and sauce

...cooking up the meat, and simmering with your favorite sauce,...

Spinach, ricotta, eggs, spices

...mixing together the spinach, cheese and egg mixture, then filling the shells.

I used fresh farm eggs from the Farm Wife's Table. I'm so thankful I can buy fresh eggs from Angie Viebrock!

Spooning sauce on top of stuffed shells 

Then, comes the fun part of taking a scoop of cheese and filling each cooked shell. Place them in pans (notice I made four (4) pans! There is plenty to share and/or freeze for future meals. Once all the shells are placed, cover with the meat sauce and bake or wrap the pans tightly to refrigerate or freeze. I've found that it takes longer to cook once the pans have been chilled, so the baking time is approximate.

If I were a tall dog...
 (sung to the tune from Fiddle on the Roof)

Special note: make sure you don't have a tall dog, or these may get tasted before you serve them! Tara was really hoping I'd spill some so she could clean it up for me!

Please let me know what you think if you try this recipe. I love to hear your thoughts!

P.S. If you see Joni, tell her that her recipes are famous! (I've lost track of her, but I think she's in Arizona). Another one of her recipes is for the salsa that I make every summer!

Enjoy!

CREAM FILLED CUPCAKES

One of Joel's requests for his birthday is almost always cream-filled cupcakes. I stumbled across this recipe years ago and have made them often.  It turns a yummy cupcake into something WOW!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I've always made chocolate cupcakes at Joel's request, but I imagine you can fill any of your favorite flavors. You might try substituting mint flavor for the vanilla in chocolate cupcakes. Or maybe some tongue-tempting lemon in lemon cupcakes...or? Let me know if  you try this recipe in some interesting combinations. I always love to hear what you think!

Cupcake cream filling

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup Crisco
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. Water
1 tsp. vanilla (or flavor of your choice)
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine all but powdered sugar on low in mixer. Add powdered sugar gradually. Mix on high for 7 (seven) minutes. Using a decorator's tube, fill 24 cooled cupcakes squirting the filling from the top down. Frost with your choice of frosting.

YUMMY!

PEACH COBBLER

Hot, bubbling cobbler!

What can go wrong with a cobbler if you follow the recipe exactly? And you know how I always follow a recipe exactly - not! But I really tried this time. (And the results were amazing!)

Delicious home canned peaches! (But you can use store bought peaches if you don't have these.)

This summer, Dayna and I put up fresh peaches that we purchased from Angie Viebrock and The Farm Wife's Table. Let me tell you, they were worth canning and savoring, even though I wanted to eat the whole bushel at once. These peaches had such great flavor! 

Side story: Angie brought these to my house (special delivery) and I put the box on the stairs as Angie was leaving. I stepped outside to tell her goodbye and when I returned to my house, Tara was eating peaches right out of the box! I told you they were hard to resist! Of course we washed all the peaches and we peeled them as we canned them so there are no doggy germs in this cobbler. 

This was an easy recipe!

OK, back to the recipe! Step one was melting a stick of butter in a 9 x 13 pan in the oven at 350 degrees. As I melted that, I mixed up the other ingredients. I poured the flour mixture into the pan then dumped in my canned peaches with the syrup. 

This recipe seemed too easy and the concoction in the pan seemed a little bit soupy. But I had 40 minutes to wait, and time did tell!

The house was filled with the mouth-watering scent of peaces as it was baking!

And the resulting cobbler was beautiful! Yes, smell was an indicator of the level of deliciousness of this hot, bubbly, mouthwatering concoction!!

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a fork full of peaches is even better!

The real test came at dinner when we tasted it! Don't you wish you could have been here for this?

What if....?

Since I relented and let Joel get Tara, I have been wondering about this.  If you read this blog, I am curious to know your thoughts.Let me know what you think.

What if we treated our spouses more like a pampered pet?

Would we:

• go on more long walks and play more games
• scratch your back and brush your hair just so I could lay my hands on you
• feed you only healthy treats and give you only the best food - not that store brand stuff
• snuggle you several times a day and say sweet things when I walked by
• take your picture and tell you how cute you are
• entertain you and play games with you to make sure you are not bored
• admire you when you are napping, even your funny flaws like your snaggletooth
• take you on visits and to lots of interesting places where we could romp around together
• bring home new toys for us to play together
• find delight in all the silly things you do
• pull you onto my lap several times a day
• tell people how fun you are to be with and brag about your exploits
• ruffle your hair with a towel and dry your back after your bath
• clean up all your messes and even the hairs on the floor without complaint
• notice if you were getting too hot or too cold or if you were getting thirsty so I could get you fresh drinks
• not grouse at you when I'm grumpy about something else
• gently lead you where I need/want to go and let you take the lead and follow you when it's important to you
• chatter on happily even though you are not listening to a word that is being said
• stop in the middle of chores to play for a moment because you are staring at me longingly
• love to have you jump on my lap and snuggle when I sit on the couch
• not get irritated if you followed me around all day, got in my way, was curious to know what I was doing and what I was going to do next
• nurture and love you without expecting anything but love in return

Here's to being happily married and treated like a pampered pet!
Merry Christmas!
Hope you also have a happy and healthy New Year!

Cranberries and apples!

I'm feeling thankful for so many things; prayerful for everything else! 

One thankful thing is cran-apple! That's why I was so happy to find my favorite Jonathan apples in the store at the same time there are cranberries! I made the best cranapple sauce and even froze several quarts so I could enjoy it all winter. 

Cranapple sauce! 

Here's how I did it: cook the cranberries as directed on the package except only use 1/2 cup sugar. The Johnathan apples are naturally sweet already; I prefer my sauce sweet-tangy (just like me). 

Freshly washed and cooked. The pop as they boil.

Wash and slice enough apples to fill your pressure cooker 1/3 full. (If you don't have a pressure cooker, it will take more water and more time to boil the apples until they are fully cooked.)

No need to peel since only the fruit pulp comes through the sieve.

Add 1/2 cup water and bring the sealed cooker up to pressure. Turn down the heat and allow it to pressure cook for 5 minutes. The best part about a pressure cooker is that it cooks so quickly, hence retaining the nutritional value of the apples. Next, I cooled the cooker by running cold water over the top. Then I used my old food sieve from Grandma's kitchen (one of my favorite inheritances) to press the apples and make the sauce. I don't have to peel or core apples because I use the sieve. 

Only the skins and seeds remain; all the fruit pulp is extruded.

Next I used my Betty Crocker Cookbook (so I could follow a recipe "exactly") and added spices as if I were making apple pie. Then I stirred in the cooked cranberries and, voilà, cran-apple sauce!

Yes, I know this is the same picture twice, but doesn't it look tasty?

This is delicious and a beautiful shade of red too! Just think of the vitamins and antioxidants in here! It practically makes you healthy just to read about it!

It's the holiday season and this would be an excellent side dish for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner! Let me know if you try this. Or, invite me over to taste your cooking! 

Peace, blessings, and thankfulness to you!

When the cat is away, the mouse will play!

Since Joel was in Dallas, and he hasn't had time to do what I needed/wanted to get done, I put on my big girl pants and did it!

 I have been wanting the outdoor furniture sanded and refinished for the whole summer! We have just been playing too much! I had one last blast of summertime weather here yesterday so… I got busy on that honey-do list!

I have been inspired by a couple of ladies lately.  Bridget, who is a blacksmith  (wow!) and Erika who tackles every job around the house and does it magnificently! So, why can't I attempt a few chores that don't require a vacuum or a mixer? 

I gathered the necessary equipment: a sander, (the. playful mouse)

sandpaper, the color–matches Olympic stain, (thank you Lowe's) the applicator, and yes rubber gloves.

So here is the before and after. What do you think? 

Would you like to come over and sit in the Adirondack chair to roast a marshmallow and have Smore's with me? Afterwords we could sit on the bench swing and watch the sunset!

HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!

Delicious acorns as seen on the interwebs. I only made mine with chocolate kisses.

The calendar says it's autumn, but the days feel more like summer! Regardless of temperatures, the plants' photosynthesis is making things change around here. On our daily walks, Tara and I step over the smattering of acorns that litter the trail. She chases random acorns; I often kick them ahead or scrunch them under my feet. But, eat one of those? I don't think so! I don't feel that squirrely and Tara likes the crunch but not the taste! 

I stumbled across someone's Pinterest post about how to make edible acorns. So, being me, I follow the recipe EXACTLY - not!

Nestle peanut butter and milk chocolate morsels

To make my acorns, I used Nestle peanut butter  and milk chocolate morsels from which I had to pick out from this bag just the peanut butter ones because I couldn't find a bag of just peanut butter morsels.

 I used Hershey Kisses and...

An open bag soon becomes an empty bag!

...miniature Nabisco vanilla wafers. "Nobody can eat just one" little mini Nilla wafer; they are as addictive as Lay's potato chips! (No, don't use potato chips to make these acorns, I was just using Lay's catch phrase!) 

I need Tech Support to figure out how to make this photo sit up straight!
You'd think this was Tara not doing what I tell her to do!

I didn't use Royal Icing since I only wanted a smidge of icing not the large quantity the recipe would make! So I stirred up a little bit of powdered sugar and milk to act as the glue.

The rest was a matter of peeling Hershey's kisses without eating all of them, dipping said kisses in the bit of icing, attaching the two together and letting them dry. Then I picked out the peanut butter morsels, dipped them in icing and stuck them to the other side of the mini nilla wafer. Then voila - acorns! 

If you want some of these for your next fun treat, I would be happy to make some and send them to you. As usual, that would require a small fee to cover shipping and handling. Or, you can drop by and we can make some of these because I served the ones pictured here at the last P.E.O. meeting and they have been devoured!

(If you are still reading, please note that I didn't post the picture of just the mini wafer with a peanut butter morsel attached because that looked more like a snack to serve at a baby shower! You'll have to make some of these to see for yourself exactly what I mean!)

Happy fall, y'all!

HOT PEPPER RELISH

We have been so fortunate to have such a relatively cool several days in a row. So, I took advantage of the cool weather to make some hot pepper jam.

Does this photo make you want to taste some pepper jam too? All you need is a jar of my hot pepper jam, some crackers, and maybe cream cheese if you prefer. Maybe you should come visit me? I have all that here! Or, you can make some for yourself!

TASTING!

The peppers were purchased from The Farm Wife's Table; the conditions haven't been right for my garden to produce peppers.  But Angie has the best produce! 

Bells and jalapenos

After removing all the seeds, I used my food processor for the chopping. Of course, I carefully measured, mixed and followed the cooking directions on the insert in the Sure Jell box. The results were tasty! And of course, as always, I followed the recipe exactly...except I did add some green food coloring.

Chopping

I wore rubber gloves when handling the peppers and making this jam. I always wear rubber gloves when I am canning. It helps prevent burns. But I tossed those gloves in the trash when I was finished because I couldn't wash off the hot pepper!

S'MORES!

My favorite things include the people I love (especially my family members), popcorn, and s’mores - to name just a few things!  If I have an excuse to make something for friends and family, I am all over it! This time, my cousin Martin was coming through town and I got the privilege of bringing dessert (thank you Glenn and Estelle for hosting dinner)!  And, you KNOW how I always follow a recipe exactly – NOT! 

I found this recipe online and you can too!
http://cookiesandcups.com/smores-in-a-jar/
 I loved the photos posted there.

This is the recipe I followed - almost exactly.  I filled a dozen jars, used the large box of instant Jell-O pudding, two (2) 7-ounce containers of marshmallow fluff and I put a large marshmallow on top. Patty you were right, the mini marshmallows would have been better on top.  They would have melted thoroughly inside when toasted under the broiler. Joel thinks I should use CoolWhip instead of marshmallow fluff next time and there will be a next time! 

All the ingredients - before I asked Joel to bring home the second container of marshmallow fluff.

I placed all the filled jars in a 9x13 pan for easy transportation and so I could put them all under the broiler at one time. It only took a couple of minutes to toast the marshmallows and I watched them carefully. I have been known to burn things - like the cheese, right Dayna? When the marshmallows turned a lovely toasty color, I carefully removed them from the oven and then placed one square of a Hershey Chocolate Bar in each. (Since the jars were cold and I placed them under the broiler, I think it is important to point out that I used canning jars which are made to take the heat; not that anything but the marshmallows got warm.)

The marshmallow wasn't quite melted enough to insert the piece of Hershey Bar.
Mini marshmallows would have done the trick!

These are not made for shipping. Let me know when you are coming to visit and I’ll make some for you too! 

(If you are still reading at this point, and you are a member of the Grammar Police, please make any corrections and teach me the errors of my ways!)

Deviled Easter Eggs, an oxymoron?

Who decided to name these tempting treats "deviled" anyway? One of my favorite sayings is "God gave us food, the devil gave recipes!" Maybe they are deviled eggs because they are hard to resist?

At Easter, if you are like me, you will have lots of hard boiled eggs in your house...and I'm talking about the food not the relatives that may be there! 

An easy way to prepare the egg filling is to mix it all in a ziplock bag. Use your favorite recipe or do a search; there are so many variations to choose from on the web!

The amount of mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, pickle relish and other spices you use in your recipe of course depends on how many eggs you have boiled or that have survived the peeling and yolk-scooping process. It's always wise to taste your filling as you go. I can imagine Julia Childs "ohh, that's good" exclamation in this tasting part of the process.  Just keep squishing the bag to mix the ingredients.

When the flavor and consistancy is just right, snip off the corner of the bag and pipe the filling into the eggs. It is so easy to do and then clean up is a snap!

Enjoy!

STIR FRY SHRIMP

Spending time in the kitchen with people I love is one of my favorite things to do!  I am blessed that I often get to spend time with my Dayna Bug since she lives just 5 minutes from here. 

Ever since Magda posted her recipe for Stir Fried Rice I had been craving this meal! This was the first time I'd ever made fried rice, can you believe that? It is so easy and delicious. If you haven't attempted it, here is her recipe:

Thanks for sharing your recipe Magda!

Dayna was eager to help and this was such an easy recipe! Especially since all  I did was cook the rice and took pictures while she did the rest! Easy!

Stirring and frying the shrimp until is it just pink.

First she cleaned and shelled the shrimp. Then she fried and set them aside.

I had a bag of frozen veggies so there was not much prep time involve in chopping.

Notice my iPad propped up on my cookbook stand as she follows the step-by-step directions.

This was a delicious lunch and she is so talented, she even ate with chopsticks! When we are together, you know I'll be cooking this, sans meat, for my vegetarians Joel Jr. and Mary!

I'd love to hear if you try this recipe. Enjoy!