Baking is a Beautiful Thing!

Here is my strawberry pie I made this evening from local berries I picked up from the Bush-N-Vine.

Homemade pies always look so much more interesting, don't you think? Imperfection is perfect in my book. The fun was that I pulled the recipes from my grandmother Zelda's Betty Crocker Cookbook. Can we say, really old? Some of the pages were so worn you couldn't read all of the pie crust directions and the spine is falling apart.

Makes me want to cry thinking about her in the kitchen. And let me tell you, she lived in that kitchen. Cooking twice a day, sometimes three, and canning what came out of her garden or baking for the holidays. They didn't call it housework for nothing, ya'll.

So in order to compensate for those tasty strawberry calories I am about to partake in, I made a chicken salad for tonight's dinner. It was good but a little on the tart side because I used greek yogurt instead of mayo. I would suggest using maybe a tad more honey.

Here's the ingredients:

     1 1/2 cup diced chicken
     1/2 vadilla sweet onion, diced
     1/2 teaspoon curry
     1/2 teaspoon paprika
     1 tablespoon pure honey
      handful of red grapes, cubed
     1/4 jar of artichoke salad (contains olives, artichokes and peppers)
     small container of greek yogurt

Garnish with balsamic dressing. Yum!

Going Bananas

I have always been in the habit of tossing my overripe bananas in the freezer and then baking banana bread when I had a stash. My freezer was kind of going bananas when I found this recipe for banana cake with cream cheese frosting on pinterest. I didn't have nuts for the top but it was great without them.

My version doesn't look so pretty but it was delicious! I recommend this recipe for its ease and yumminess. I made this for my small group Bible study last week and the ladies loved it. Don't get lazy and use the canned cream cheese frosting. This is the real deal and took less than 2 minutes to make. It also ups the flavor factor.

I have also been trying to serve alternative healthy snacks, too. I picked up some strawberries and clementines on sale and then just tossed them with whatever I had in the cupboard for an on-the-fly fruit salad. In this case, it was just coconut and raisins. It contains no sugar or sugar substitute. The trick to its deliciousness was letting it sit in the fridge for a day and allowing the natural sweetness of the coconut and raisins to sweeten the berries.

 

It is a bit of a challenge to think of something to serve people each week that is quick, not costly, or bad for you. I abhor supermarket, packaged sweets because they are loaded with preservatives and all sorts of junk that I wouldn't even feed my dogs! 

At least if we are going to eat something sweet, I know the ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Not a bunch of gums and extracts I can't pronounce. Besides, have you ever had a leftover supermarket cupcake or cake? You can eat that stuff, like 30 days later (I know, but I did. LOL!) It is indestructible. All I can say is, that can't be good!

I have shared before that I am on a journey of learning and understanding where our modern-day food is coming from. In this light, I recommend  Heritage Radio Network. I found this fun source through an organization called the Greenhorns, a group of under 40 farmers. There are so many excellent programs you can choose from. I am a bit of a cheese whore, so I have been listening to Cutting the Curd, hosted by Anne Saxelby. Enjoying myself immensely. 

Last night I listened to a program on the adulterated olive oil market. I highly recommend you check out the site and listen to this program because this is just one more area the U.S. consumer is getting ripped off on. And I'll leave you with this little tidbit, did you know there are more than 700 varieties of olives? Me neither! Seems like olives are a bit like wine--regions, varities, and production have a lot to do with the finished project. Sometimes a little education can go a long way, just have fun with it.

Playing House

I needed a break from the computer and wanted to just nest, cuz baby it's cold outside! I baked a chicken, had some sour dough bread with real butter and marmalade jam, and downed some wine. 

Before that though, I played house. I hung up my Tender Hearts $6 tangerine curtains.

The color is awesome. When they are drawn closed and the sun is at its zenith, the space actually glows a beautiful orange. It's like tangible sunshine.

If you have followed me at all, you know that I am infatuated with the turquoise and blue combo. I had painted the opposite wall blue.

It is just the wrong blue.  I am going to repaint it a toned down turquoise like that shown in the vase. I also have turquoise in my new painting:

My dining area and my living room run together, and I like how the blue and orange play throughout, but as you can see in this shot, my sideboard blue is not turquoise but similar to the color of my accent wall.

So I may just have to paint it turquoise, too. It is a challenge to mix the blues just as it is a challenge to mix the traditional with the modern, but that is what most of us have to do with our inherited pieces, such as my dining set. Still, I think the juxtaposition of styles in a home give it the look of acquired timelessness, which I love, and a sense of warmth and comfort. In these two photos (sorry, one is very blurry) you can see what I mean:

I love changing it up and am very happy with the tangerine curtains. I was going to opt for sail cloth drapes, but with the addition of this unexpected find, I'll just tone down the colors by recovering the dining chairs in painter's canvas. So....I'm off this morning to buy some drop cloth.  Hope you all have a good weekend, and don't forget the child inside and play a little house this weekend. After all, baby it's cold outside!

The Bread of My Life

So I am on a journey of learning where my food comes from. I am way behind the curve ball on all of you foodies and health nuts, but I have an excuse. I haven't had TV in like two years and I haven't rented movies in a long, long time. It may sound lame, but I swear on a stack of Bibles it is true. Okay, enough of the hand-wringing over my ignorance. I watched the movie "Food Inc." and I was like Snow White when she was kissed by the prince. Poof, I woke up from my food stupor. I may be a decade too late, but I have arrived!

And like the good student I am, I immediately ran my fingers over to amazon.com and ordered the book The Omnivores Dilemma, which I highly recommend. But lest you think I was not serious about the origins of my food and it was just another one of my "phases," I lost never-to-be-found-again hours glued to Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm videos on YouTube and listening to him speak at conferences. I even developed a secret crush on him. I know, I know, he wears funny hats and high-waters. But alas my crush moved on. This time to a really fascinating and scruffy farmer guru on Meet the Farmer TV. I can't say for sure why, but I might would have married him too.

So after a few months of educating myself and trying to buy whole, healthy, and pesticide-free foods that were not genetically engineered, I discovered I was going to have to cook again. I know. I also discovered a great blogger who loves to do things on a budget like moi, check out Hillbilly Housewife. I made her "Beginner's Bread," and it turned out great. My small success has whet my appetite to bake more.

I don't know about you, but I am so ready for fall activities and fall food. Making this bread just makes me want to bake and nest. We have been suffocating from the heat all summer in South Carolina and this past week was the first time you could feel fall stealthily moving in. The morning air had that oh-so subtle change in temperature and the drone of the cicadas has been replaced by the din of the crickets at night. The background music of tree frogs is fading and the dead leaves have been dancing all day as they fall from the trees. This, my friends, is the bread of my life.

Strike When the Iron Is Hot!

One of the things I love about summer is all of nature's colorful vegetables. I miss having my own garden, so I am always happy to oblige friends who want to avail me with their leftover bounty. When I did have my garden, I canned or froze what we couldn't eat. I guess I wasn't as generous. It all gets ripe at one time, so if you are going to have a garden you need a plan. So when I received this unexpected windfall, I immediately thought--stir fry!

So I pulled out the food processor my son bought me and got to gettin!

When it was all said and done, I froze two quart-sized bags of peppers and squash and still had my stir fry with leftovers to share. 

Lest you think I have been lazy around the house just because I haven't posted, I have been trying to complete some projects. I finally found the time this Saturday to cut the fabric for the second lampshade I needed to recover. Funny thing is, I guess I didn't measure twice and cut once. The fabric was way too short and there was no remedy. So what did I do, you ask? What any self-respecting non-crafter does, I bought two new lampshades. And I must say, I couldn't have done it better myself. Purdy, no?

 

So remember people, strike when the iron is hot, but measure twice and cut once!

Publish Post

Can We Say Summer!

This key lime cake looked so good posted on the The Lettered Cottage I had to share it with my niece Naomi, who is THE undisputed cook in the family.  She bought an awesome lemon pie from the Virginia Farmer's market for our family get-together on Sunday.  She made a fabulous potato salad to go with a great pulled pork roast she slow cooked for BBQ. She also made this unique macaroni salad with cucumber. Can we say yum! With all of the wedding happenings, I couldn't believe she managed to pull all of that together, but she takes after her Grandmother Sandy--the Wonder Woman of hospitality. As we devoured our lemon pie, of course we then chatted about how much we love key lime pie.  So Naomi, we just have to try this key lime cake!

And in keeping with the green theme, I like this gray and green combo posted on Desire to Inspire.  Very contemporary and soothing. What do you think?