Lettuce in the Winter Garden

Coming home after spending the holidays with my folks always proves very fruitful.  We bring home a lot more than we left with.  My parents are so generous and we always have a great time with them on their little farm.  This year, in addition to Christmas gifts, we came home with an ice chest full of fresh meat (mutton and venison), pecans, black walnuts, and a bunch of baby lettuce starter plants. 
 
One of the things I love about living so far south is the ability to plant a winter garden.  We rarely get freezing temperatures and never far below freezing.  While many areas of the country are covered with snow, we occasionally are lucky enough to have a steamy fog on our pond in the morning.


More often we enjoy daytime temperatures in the 70s and great fun outside.  But don’t you be jealous if you’re knee-deep in snow.  Just remember how miserable and hot our summers are.  Well, we’ve planted the lettuce in our garden now and are looking forward to many fresh salads.

 

Looking forward to planting more things soon.
Rebecca

Harvesting the Pumpkins

In October we picked the biggest pumpkin from our garden for a Halloween jack-o-lantern and left the rest in the garden to keep growing.  This week we picked several more to make pies and side dishes for Thanksgiving.  They weigh about 25 lbs!




 

I love having such fresh produce.  This year one of the things I am most thankful for is all the progress we’ve made in turning our bare property into our dream hobby farm. 

Thank you God for the many blessings!!
Rebecca

Persimmon Cookies

I submitted this recipe for a contest today and since I had already taken pictures, I decided to share it with you too.  It’s a great fall dessert and will be accompanying the pumpkin pie after our Thanksgiving feast.



My parents have had a persimmon tree for as long as I can remember and my mom still shares the fruit with us when they ripen in autumn.  This recipe came from my aunt and has been a tradition in our family for a long time.  They are moist, chewy dollops of heaven!!

Persimmon Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
1 cup persimmon pulp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped dates
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Cream shortening and sugar; add egg, persimmon, and vanilla.  Beat for 1 minute.  Add pecans and dates.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir into creamed mixture.  Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake at 375° F for 12 minutes. (yield: 4 dozen)

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!
Rebecca

Pick A Pick A Pumpkin

Pumpkin month is upon us.  I felt like a mouse in a maze just trying to get into the grocery store today.  Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere!!  But I didn’t buy any this year.  This year I decided to grow pumpkins in my garden.  I really wanted that whimsical look of the pumpkin in Cinderella.



It was modeled after a variety called Rouge Vif d'Etampes so last spring I ordered some seeds and planted.  Well they got planted in May.  That’s a little late for around here, but I spent “prime” planting time bringing a new life into this world <but I digress>.  So the pumpkins were planted a little late.  After a hot and wet summer the plants have actually survived and have little pumpkins on them.



Here is one of my little beauties.



It’s still kinda small (only about 8 inches across) so I’m hoping it grows a lot between now and Halloween.   And I’m excited that this variety also makes a good pie.  YUM!!
 
Have you ever heard this song?  My mom used to sing it to me when I was little.

Pick a pick a pumpkin

From the pile

We can make it’s eyes

And a great big smile.

Pick a pick a pumpkin

Round and clean.

Then we’ll be ready for

Halloween.

Happy Autumn!!!
Rebecca

Birthday Castle

It’s been a while since I last posted.  I’ve been working on an appliqué quilt for my nephew, but I don’t have any pics to show you.  My sister is only giving me pieces of it at a time to work on.  We’ll put them all together later.

   
But we did have a double birthday here recently and I wanted to show you the fun cake I did.  My son turned 4 and my daughter turned 2.  Their birthday’s are one day apart and we have been celebrating them together… at least until they’re old enough to want their own day and theme.  Last year I did a train cake from Wilton’s puzzle cupcake forms.





This year I thought surely I’d have to do two different cakes.  Something pink and girly for my daughter and ??? for my son.  So when my son came to me with a book about a farmer who had a birthday and told me he wanted a PINK cake just like the farmer, I figured I’d lucked out.  :)

Here’s his their pink cake that he and his 2 year old sister love!



I’m not the greatest cake decorator.  I’m certainly not a professional, but I love that I can create something myself and give from my heart.  Happy Birthday to my little ones!

Rebecca

Pears, Pears, Pears!!

The other day, my sister came to help me out with the kids so I could spend the day processing and canning the pears from our pear tree.

It’s a variety of Asian pear that is similar to a Bartlett, but juicier and ripens earlier in the season.  With all the rain we had this past winter and spring, we are enjoying a bumper crop from all of our fruit trees.  So I was happy to have some time for putting away the pears to enjoy throughout the year and to share with others.



As a child I helped my mom process the apples from the big apple tree, so doing the pears was very similar.  I cut some into halves or quarters and canned them in a light sugar syrup. 



Then I made a big batch of pear sauce (just like apple sauce).   I saved some sauce to feed my little ones, but the rest I made into pear butter and pear leather.


I love to eat the pear butter on toast in the morning.


Pear leather is just like the fruit roll ups you buy at the store, only this is organic with no sugar added.


To make it, I flavored some of the pear sauce with cinnamon and cloves and spread it into a tray on my dehydrator.  A few hours later and I have a great snack that’s easy to take on the go or pack in lunches.




This dehydrator was a wedding gift and I don’t use it enough.  I love it!  And I love to share homegrown foods with my family and friends.
 




Fun fact: Pears are best when they are picked a little green and allowed to ripen indoors in a cool dry place.  This gives them a less gritty texture.

Blessings,
Rebecca

join me:

Fun Little Summery Cocktails

I really love summer time.  Especially all the bright festive colors and cool summer drinks.  This week red, orange, and yellow peppers are on sale at the grocery store so I stocked up.  I’m using some with supper tonight, and putting the rest in the freezer.


I decided to use them in a salad to be paired with pork chops marinated with pineapple and OJ.  That’s when I got an idea to make up some pre-dinner drinks using the peppers as cocktail glasses.  Then, after they’ve soaked up a little of the fruity flavors, I’ll chop them up and add them to the salad.

First, I picked out peppers that had nice flat bottoms and stood up well by themselves.  You don’t want your yummy cocktail falling over.  :)

Then I cut around the tops and twisted out the seeds.  (Think stuffed peppers).  Make sure all the seeds are out.

In the blender I mixed up a favorite rum punch with OJ, fresh pineapple and a tad of cherry juice.  The rum is optional if you prefer a mocktail.  I like Malibu Caribbean Rum in this drink..  It has a fresh coconut flavor.

Then just fill your hollowed out peppers and add a straw.  You can get creative with the garnishes too.

So after our drinks were finished.  I grilled the pork chops and tossed up some salad - baby lettuce mix, fresh mozzarella, pineapple, basil, and the chopped peppers which I topped with a homemade lemon basil dressing.

Superb!!  I hope this inspires you to enjoy some of summer’s fresh, colorful foods.

Rebecca

Gonna catch a party at: