Gratitude #3672 ~ Summer Cherries



Scene:

A girl, donned in a pretty apron, is all alone in a house on a sunshiny summer day.  The smell of deliciously ripe Rainier cherries fill the air after having pitted them. 

She gently tosses the cherries with sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice

{ahhh... fresh lemons- makes her as happy as the cherries do}

salt and almond extract.

Plop, plop, plop

the cherries sound as they tumble into the baking dish.

She puts the ingredients away, taking one extra long sniff of the almond extract before tucking it away too.

As she dances around the kitchen in her bare feet to the tinkling chimes of Lenka's voice on the radio, she pulls flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, salt and butter out of the cupboards.

After mixing it all up, she stirs in some sliced almonds for good measure, pours it all over the top of the cherries and pops it into the oven.

Forty-five minutes can't speed by fast enough.

She is grateful for summer cherries.

They Didn't Last An Hour

The night of our Pumpkin Carving Contest I baked.

And I was greatly loved for it.

I might even go so far as saying,

I was everyone's favorite person that night.

I found this recipe here.

Amazingly simple, fast and good.

1 box of Spice Cake mix

1 can of pumpkin

1 cup chocolate chips

Bake for 15 minutes at 350

and then EAT.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving and/or weekend!

Fuzzy Lambs, Sticky Hands and A Winner

This was my day today....

The alarm went off at 6:30 and I hit snooze three (maybe 4) times.

I killed the sinus headache and ball of snot in my stomach with 3 Advil and half a pot of coffee.

Then I met up with a Bestie and drank more coffee and headed over to The Woolie Ewe.

Because every 5 years I relearn how to knit.

While there the Farmboy showed up.  He needed something I had with me.

"Where are you?"

"The Woolie Ewe."

"The What?"

"The Woolie Ewe."

"Huh?"

"Woolie Ewe.  Like Fuzzy Lamb."

Sometimes the Farmboy can't understand my accent.

Evidently.

Anyway, I'm ready to start now.

Right after I look up on the internets how to do it.

Thank you, Al Gore, you're a life saver.

After lunch I went back home and attempted to make bread.

Attempted is the correct term here.

This is my first time to make bread.

To me that picture makes it obvious enough that I shouldn't actually have to say that.

Is it supposed to be that sticky?

Martha's never looks that sticky.

It's in the oven right now, so we'll see later if the Domestic Goddess left the building before I began or not.

Next I will start making soup.

Soup I'm sure nobody here will eat.

Carrot and sweet potato.

Some days you've got it and some days you don't.

And now for the Artful Blogging magazine winner....

*********

Natalea

*********

Yay, Natalea!

Bet your pretty excited I'm sending you a magazine and not that sticky bread dough.



Summer's End

I checked the 10 day weather forecast just before the start of the weekend.

According to them, summer is finally coming to a close this week.

But seeing as how it was still going to be warm on Sunday, I decided we needed to have one last summer picnic.

I also thought it was a very good excuse to make up a pitcher of my latest summer craving...

Cherry Limeade

Seriously. 

Last summer I couldn't get enough black cherry sno-cones.

This summer it's been all about Sonic's cherry limeades.

And then the Food Network gods sent me a gift.

A gift in the form of The Pioneer Woman.

I've been reading her blog daily and cooking out of her cookbook for a long time, so it was only natural that I watch her cooking show.

It was during episode 4.

The clouds parted and rays of cherry-lime goodness rained down on me in the form of a recipe.

Because quite frankly, it had never dawned on me that I could actually make it myself
and not trek the 2 miles from my house during Sonic's happy hour to fulfill a craving.

I've made it several times now.
And oh, is it good.
So, so good.

Still Life No.1

from my kitchen



rosemary ... garlic ... lemon

What would you create?

Domestic Goddess Awards

In the news today...

This past weekend
the infamous
Domestic Goddess Awards Event
was held in a small Texas town.

Amid all of the lovely aprons present,
one local housewife shined brightly.

As she took the stage in her favorite vintage, gingham apron
to receive her Golden Whisk for "Best Sunday Brunch",
she shared a few words of appreciation.

"I would like to thank my reliable KitchenAid mixer, my beautiful family and the awards committee (aka the Farmboy)
for this wonderful award.
However, I must admit I never could have pulled it off with out the assistance of The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook.
Her French Breakfast Puffs recipe was the "cherry on top" for my Sunday brunch.
Thank you! Thank you!"

And in other news.....

Of Cupcakes and Wine

I don’t know that it even matters
whether or not it’s any good.

It has the word cupcake on it.
That’s enough for me.

Blueberry Jam

I hope you're not getting tired of seeing blueberries yet, because those kids picked a lot of them.
So, I made some jam too.

I was short on time, so I went simple.
I used Heather Bullards recipe that was printed in Flea Market Style.
Super fast. Super easy. Super good.
And I would suggest enlisting the help of a Teenager to do the mashing. Makes it even easier!

Thirst Quinching

Who doesn't love a big ol' glass of ice cold lemonade in the Summer time?

When we were paying for the blueberries we had picked, we also got a glass of blueberry lemonade.
Delicious!
So I couldn't wait to get home and make some.

After a little searching, I decide to go with Bobby Flay's recipe.

Nothing against Bobby, but....

It was way too tart for my sweet-toothed family.
After adding more water and a lot more sugar, the hoards pronounced it acceptable.

Turns out, not only was it acceptable, but it was the perfect mid-bike ride thirst quencher.

Blueberry Lemonade in the park at dusk.
Aaahhhhh.

Wednesday

It was a beautiful Spring day, Wednesday was.
And unfortunately my muse had decided she wanted to be a gypsy and had taken off about a week prior. So when Wednesday rolled in, she was still off somewhere gallivanting around... more than likely in a meadow dotted with wildflowers and a bubbling brook near by.

Luckily for me, however, I had plans for a couple of the most wonderful friends to come over for lunch that day.
And eventhough I was struggling, and I mean really struggling, to function properly without my gypsy muse, the day turned out beautifully.
There was gift giving...

and soothing stitching...

and some pretty darn good food (if I say so myself).

That gypsy muse of mine must have sensed she was missing out, because later that evening she came tiptoeing up to me, head hanging down, with a whispered apology on her lips.
I told her it was all okay, but to remember next time, that I love meadows dotted with wildflowers too.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Rainy Day Baking

It has been a very GAA.LOOOM.YYY day. So I decided it would be a good day to bake something.

Earlier this week a recipe… a very easy recipe… was shared over at The Farm Chicks. The cutest little pies.

I have to be honest here though and tell you, my very first thought when I saw them was, “Oh! Wouldn’t those be good fried!” You can tell where I’m from, huh?
But I was a good girl and baked them… gotta watch out for the Farmboy’s ol’ ticker, ya know.

I used, much to the dismay of said Farmboy, the current house favorite, Cottage Raspberry Currant Conserves. I say "dismay" because I used it all up. Which, in my opinion, makes this little treat a wonderful way to clean out the door of the fridge. You know, all those jam jars that only have a couple of spoonfuls of jam left in them and are taking up precious space that you could be using for some de-lish Devonshire cream and lemon curd. Mmmmmmmmm. Oh, sorry, got a bit off track there. And I just happened to have some pie crust in there also.

Anyway, these are easy-peasy and quite yummy too. I think I'll go make some coffee, to finish this one off with and then find my Snuggie. On second thought, I can hear the thunder in the distance.... maybe I should bake a Thunder Cake instead.

Have a beautiful evening!

Oatmeal Chocolate Goodies

I made these yesterday and my family loves them!

1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 C.unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. peanut butter
3 C. oatmeal

Bring the milk to a boil and add the sugar, cocoa and butter. Stir until the butter melts. Turn the heat down and cook for one and a half minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and peanut butter. Stir and add the oatmeal. Mix well. Drop teaspoons of the mixture onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Refrigerate until firm. Makes four dozen cookies (I made mine bigger). Store in a tin, the layers separated by wax paper, in the refrigerator or in a cool place.

Recipe taken from The Body in the Bookcase by Katherine Hall Page.

I *Heart* Berries

In fact, the whole family does.

Berries signify Summer for me. Despite that, we eat them year round. But, our intake definitely increases in the summertime.

We eat them all kinds of ways. Straight off the plant if you are E... by the handful (literally) if you are a Farmboy. One of our favorite ways is for dessert, on top of a slice of wondrously light and fluffy Angel Food Cake. The other night I made fruit and yogurt parfaits for dessert. They were good. The Farmboy's comment was, "Mmmm, wonderful! So much better than McDonalds." Uhh, yeah. I'll take that as a compliment... regardless of standards.

I love to put strawberries in my salad. Here's a good one...

(measure as you like)
Fresh Baby Spinach
Fresh Strawberries (hulled and quartered)
Sliced Red Onion
Bacon Bits and/or Walnut Pieces
Crumbled Feta Cheese

Toss all of this up with some Poppy Seed Dressing

DIVINE!!! If you need it to be a bit more heartier, slice up a grilled chicken breast and plop it on the top. Again, DIVINE!

So, is there a food that signifies Summer for you? Do tell!

Shhhh... Don't Tell!

See this wonderful old clock face?

It and the perfectly chipped spindle in front of it have been sitting on the mantle since Friday evening and farmboy has yet to notice them. My mother in law and I went treasure hunting Friday afternoon. One of my favorite junky shops is closing next month, so we have been making trips in periodically. The booths are dwindling fast and most of them have their items marked way down... like 50% or more. Well, we walk in and in a booth just a few steps away from the front counter was this wonderful clock face! Seriously, I didn't even think. I looked at it and before a thought could register in my head it was sitting in my arms. The next thing I knew, I was looking through a box that had these great spindles in it. I ended up only getting the one, because wouldn't you know it, the one booth I wanted to purchase from was not running any discount. However, I really like the one I did get and now I'm thinking about going back to get maybe one more and the big spool that was with them as well. I wonder if he would notice.

What I did show him from our treasure hunt, because I was so excited I couldn't contain myself, was this pile of old photos.

You can't really tell from this picture, but this is a pile! There are quite a few photos under the ones you can see. After reading Sarah's "Dress Up" post I had to know where she went. She was kind enough to share the whereabouts of the shop. It was one I knew, but had not been to in quite awhile. Well, this is the place where I found vintage photo heaven! And the prices were just as great as the boxes and boxes and boxes of photos. The only reason I left the booth with the pile I had, was because I was getting so stiff from sitting and looking through boxes! Otherwise, I'm sure I would have brought more home.

After the treasure hunt, the rest of the weekend was very low key and relaxing. I did some creating. But still haven't fully completed anything yet. I worked on my Bella Art Journal outside. And to make the time even more pleasant than it already was, I brought out a bouquet of roses.

Aren't these gorgeous?! I love the color combo. Bought them at the grocery store for the Tea Party, but in the frantic packing up of the party I forgot them at home. I'm kind of glad I did. I have enjoyed looking at them so much! Every time I sit down to create I make sure they are in front of me.

The other thing I did this weekend was cook... a lot. Yesterday I even baked.

Lemon Cake. Yummo! This cake is so good. And I would know it was good even if I hadn't tasted it myself. It didn't get cut until after dinner last night and only half of it is left already!

Hope the start to your week is a beautiful one! I'm off to clean.

Freaky Friday

Well, not really freaky, more like crazy, bogged-down, way too much to do today Friday. In fact, this is the last place I should be right now. My "to do" list is getting longer as I sit here. Speaking of "to do" lists, I should really carry a small journal with me everywhere I go. I make them, you would think I'd carry one. I had a brilliant idea yesterday evening while out and nothing to write on and of course, now I can't remember what it was!

I worked on tags for Lori part of yesterday. (here's a little peek)

I have five military images, so I thought I'd make five tags... and thought I'd finish them up last night.

Yeah well, this came on TV.

So I watched it. I did have the thought that I'd just plop everything down on the coffee table and work and watch at the same time... didn't happen. I didn't move... not even during the commercials. In fact, it came on again right after and so I watched the first half of it again before dragging myself to bed. If you haven't seen this movie watch it. I have the book. One of the most sweetest ladies on Earth gave it to me six years ago, just before my farmboy whisked me away to Tuscany on our honeymoon. However, being the horrible person that I am, I started it several times and never finished it... sometimes life gets in the way I guess. Anyway, I did read enough, I think, to know that the movie and the book are very much NOT alike. (By the way, I'm stating to the universe, right now, I will read this book from cover to cover before the end of Summer!) The movie is lovely... very romantic. And in my opinion, captures the feeling of Tuscany completely. Of course, keep in mind when I was there I was on my honeymoon, so everything felt romantic to me at the time!
The movie definitely put me in a mood.

The mood to work on my honeymoon album.

One of the items on my growing list is to pack my scrapbag for the monthly scrapbook crop I'm going to tonight. So the album and all of the goodies for it will get packed today and hopefully by the end of the night I will have something to share. And speaking of sharing, on my list is baking.

The scrap group I'm a part of meets twice a month. I usually only make it to one of the crops and I'm not allowed in unless I have brought cupcakes. :) I make a different kind every month and they are always a huge hit! Don't tell, but I get all of my recipes from here. Today I'm going to make Neopolitan Cupcakes.

(photo taken from Cupcake Scrapshop)
I'll let you know how they turn out.

Alright, I guess I'm off to that huge list now! Have a beautiful weekend!

Good Morning!

I hope everyone in blogland had a safe and wonderful holiday weekend. Our's was nice. Everyone came over here since my parents don't have a house on this continent anymore and my sister's house is wall to wall boxes at the moment.
I had this grand idea to make the pancakes and waffles from the cookbook section of the March issue of Country Living. I had all of the dry ingredients prepared in separate containers ready to go and still, even with my dad manning the pancake griddle, it took forever and was a huge mess! I went and bought a waffle iron just for the occasion. Took me awhile to get the hang of it but I finally got it and a couple of perfectly cooked waffles came out of it.(heehee!!) Even though we had to wait a little longer to eat than expected, everyone filled their tummies and I think even enjoyed it.
My farmboy and I managed to get all of the new "mom and dad aquired items" sorted through and put away and the boxes broken down. He was on a roll and even got a huge portion of the garage cleaned out. All of this happened before Sunday!

Not only was that all accomplished, we also managed to get a vintage/antiquing shopping trip in! We started with lunch at my favorite little Spanish Mediterranean cafe. A yummy tapa lunch awaited us there. Then I purchased some new babies...

I told E that I was replacing him with these new babies because he wouldn't stop complaining about having to go into "all of these old shops." He rolled his eyes and said "whatever, I know I can never be replaced." That's a 15 yr old for ya. He obviously knows how much he is truly loved.
I also pick this up.

This is making SO happy right now. But that's all I can tell you about that right now. You'll just have to wait!

I also managed to aquire this nice little package of Marie Antoinette papers.

I'm ready for the swap! I purchased the pack from The Decorated House on Etsy. She has lovely vintage wallpaper packs too and the handsomest Beau Bunny Rabbit! Check her out.

I also receive the most wonderful box in the mail yesterday from Popalicious Too. I really thought it was a magic, never-ending box. I just kept pulling more and more things out of it!

Let's see, what else. Oh! I received an email this morning from Tiffany. She has opened her new boutique... Shabby Scraps Boutique. I haven't had a chance to stop in yet, but I'm headed there next.

I listed a new collection in my shoppe... Le Jardin Collection. Here's a peek.

There's more to come too.

If you are looking for something pretty, romantic, shabby, cottagey or whimsical, scroll all the way down this page. I have left a peek at some of the wonderful offerings from the Cottage Style Esty Street Team.

I think that's it for today. OH! But tomorrow I have to show you all of the wonderful embroidered pieces I got from my mom!
Have a beautiful day!

Whirlwind

The last four weeks have just blown past me. As of today, November is over. So much has happened since the bug and I had "craft day".

First was an anniversary party.



All four of us kids plus significant others took mom and dad out to P.F. Changs to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Afterward, we all headed back to our house for yummy chocolate cake and we finally broke open that last bottle of reserve wine from Italy. Wow was it GOOD!!

The next whirlwind, apron making.

I spent 3 or 4 days making the cutest hostess aprons. One for mom, one for Carrie and one for me to wear on Thanksgiving.

Then, of course, came Thanksgiving. We divided up the cooking so all the work and stress was not laid on one person's shoulders. And it worked out SO well!

Aunt Kay and Uncle Dan flew in from Chicago. It was so nice to see them. It was a really nice time all the way 'round... LOTS of yummy food, LOTS of conversation, LOTS of laying around watching the Cowboys play, LOTS of napping. Couldn't get any better than that!

The day after Thanksgiving is evidently not the best day for shopping, but the best day to rip up your bathroom floor and start laying a new one! Who knew!!

I have to admit, it sure is going to be pretty.

Everyone came over Saturday for breakfast. Bri made his wonderful Breakfast Pizzas and created a new one. Eggs, bacon, salsa, chorizo sausage and cheese. It was SO good!

Did a little shopping with mom, Carrie and Aunt K before she and Uncle Dan had to catch their plane. Then Carrie and I went back out shopping while the boys continued their work on the bathroom floor.

The past two weeks have been all about gift making and decorating for Christmas.

Ali and Rebecca both have had such wonderful ideas for decorating. My problem is making sure I have time to finish the projects I start! We'll see.