Rainy day picker upper

July 28,2012

It's been one of those off and on rainy day weekends,but we don't mind...... we will take the rain to make up for the lack of, not very long ago.  I don't know about you, but rainy days makes me want to curl up and sleep all day.  But i can't let myself do that, so i wanted to share with you what i whipped up this afternoon...... an easy homemade iced vanilla latte..............
Yep........a nice afternoon picker upper, to get me up and moving, literally.
You don't need any fancy machines to whip up this refreshing drink, just a little arm muscle.

you will need about 1 cup of milk, you probably can use half & half cream, or a little of both.  I only had 2% milk which worked but I'm sure adding the cream would have made it that much better.

Ok.....This is where the arm workout comes in.......Ooooops....i forgot to tell you that making this drink requires a little workout before you get to indulge.  Pour the milk into a jar with a lid, making sure the lid is screwed on tight.  Now shake, shake, shake..........you want to get a froth going on.  Put on some music and get out your chair and shake, shake, shake...... it's a picker upper in two aspects, a jolt of caffeine, and a work out.....     come on....you can do this.....
Mine built up a froth in about 10 minutes.....  see that did'nt take long.

This is a great way to use some leftover coffee, which i had some left from this morning.  The recipe calls for a strong brew coffee or espresso.  I guess it depends on the strength you like your latte.

Pour the coffee into a mug or glass with ice, to your own taste, leaving enough space to add your milk and other flavors.

I added a little vanilla, cinnamon, and drizzled honey on top for sweetness.  You can create your own flavors, and top with cream if you like.  This can be done hot as well, by hand mixing the milk over a low heat on the stove, but i prefer a cold one, and i liked the shaking of the jar method better.

Now doesn't that make you feel better, knowing you had a little workout before indulging, and it's HOMEMADE!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a little something for a rainy day....


             Live simple.....................Sheryl

mason jar cakes

April 18,2012

My baby turned 15 years old last month........She's my only one still in the nest, and I'm blessed, she's such a sweetheart.

She had a few friends come over and spend the night and we prepared hot wings and loaded potato salad for them.  After getting a full stomach, i took them to do what teenage girls love to do most...............SHOPPING.  They had a good time and found a few good bargains.

I wanted to share with you her birthday cakes............Yes......you read it correctly.......Cakes......more than one.  Mini cakes in a mason jar.  I have seen these all over the internet and have wanted to try it for some time.

We chose German Chocolate ......you know.....a girls favorite flavor.....

One box should fill 10-12 half pint jars.  I only had 7 clean and available so i poured the rest of the batter in muffin tins to finish up the batch.

Just mix the cake mix according to package directions and grease and flour jars.  I just sprayed mine with an oil spray and didn't flour mine and they came out fine. 

 Fill the jars half full with the batter, wipe clean any drippings from the sides of your jars.  Place a pan of hot water on lowest rack of your oven, and put jars on a flat pan and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Oven temp according to cake mix at 350 degrees.

When you take them out of the oven they may look lop-sided, but don't worry they tend to settle when cooled. But if it doesn't settle even, your frosting will cover it up.

I used a cool whip butter cream frosting recipe that's light and creamy, and to die for, it's one of my favorite frosting.

Here's the frosting recipe i used:

2 sticks of butter
1lb powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla
1 sm tub cool whip

cream butter add sugar & vanilla, fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to spread on cakes.

This recipe makes alot, probably enough to frost a whole cake.  Since you are just topping these you can cut this in half or store the remaining in the fridge and use it in a few days on something else.

The jar lids fit on mine perfect without touching the frosting, so you can make these ahead of time and keep them in fridge until ready to eat.  They were good chilled on a hot day.

My daughter and her friends ejoyed there little personal cakes and i enjoyed adding a lil something special to her birthday dinner.

Give it a try.................


I'm linking up to my simple country living for Heidi's Country Homemaker Hop
Please join me to see what other like minded women are doing across the country.


                                 Live simple..............Sheryl

Making use of........

March 4,2012

The hog my husband and family roasted for my birthday was absolutely tasty.  After giving everyone a little to take home, we still had some to eat on for the week.  I have made bar-b-que sandwiches and took some of the meat and combined it with some fresh turnips and made the best turnip and pork stew.  It had a little touch of a smokey flavor that was out of this world.  I will share with you my steps at the end of this post.  Another thing i did, was after deboning all the meat, i put the bones in a pot of water to make stock.  I thought.......why waste this wonderful flavor...... make use of these bones...so that i did...

I let this simmer on the stove for an hour or so and enjoyed the aroma, as i relived that day this pig roasted on a fire while family and friends gathered.

After it cooled i was able to skim the grease off the top before putting in the freezer.  It will be a wonderful stock to use in a gumbo or soups and beans. 


Last year our turnips did not do well, so we were pleased to have  a successful bunch growing this year. 

The basis of a good stew is the roux.  I usually brown the meat first then remove it from the pot, then make the roux in the same pot.  But since this pork was already cooked, i made my roux first.  I browned about a cup of flour in a cup of oil until it turned the color of a penny.  Thats the advise i got from my grandmother when i was learning how to cook.  In her 90 years of living she's cooked many a roux in her days.  Bless her heart........she is no longer cooking for herself anymore, as she shared her story with me on my birthday, that she now recieves meals on wheels to deliver her meals.  She adds to that by saying "although I'm thankful for such a service as this... their cooking just doesn't have any flavor like my cooking". She has taught all of us well.  Love you maw maw.......

We like alot of seasoning in our cooking, so i use alot of onion, celery, garlic and bell pepper.

 

                                                                                                                   

After making the roux, i add my seasonings in and wilt them down, adding a little water if needed to prevent any scortching.

After my seasonings have cooked down i add the peeled and cubed up turnips.  Stir them around a few minutes then add some stock.   Since i had that wonderful stock made from the bones, i used it.  I let this cook down until the turnips start to get soft, then i added the pork that was pre-cooked from the pig roast.

Let this simmer until it thickens and the turnips are tender, allowing all these flavors to blend together.  You can add a little parsley and or green onions towards the end.

You can make this turnip and pork stew using other cuts of pork such as boston butt, cut up into pieces, or pork country ribs, which is our favorite.  I just wanted to make use of some of this roasted pork.  It turned out really good, sorry i didn't get a picture of it served up over rice. 

Im linking up to the following blog hops:

The Ole'Saturday Homesteading

Made from Scratch

Country homemaker hop

Thanks for stopping by........

                                                                Live simple.....Sheryl

Cookies, Cookies and more Cookies

November 15, 2011

Hi everyone, this afternoon i stumbled on a new blog hop.  Lisa over at The Way Grandmama Does It is hosting a Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange for everyone to share favorite cookie recipes.  It so happened that i had just baked a batch of my favorite cookies, Oatmeal chocolate chip.  Can't wait to see what everyone has to share, I'm linking this post to her site. 
Join me in sharing some of your favorites at the Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip  Cookies

ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chip morsels

1 cup chopped walnuts ( opt.)

Cream butter and sugars together until smooth.  Beat in eggs one at a time, until creamy.  Stir in vanilla, mix well.  Mix together in separate bowl, flour and salt, add to butter mixture and stir well until all mixed together.  Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and nuts, mix well.  Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet, bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheet for 5 min before transferring to cooling rack.

I was able to get a picture of them before they all disappear.

                                             Live Simple.................Sheryl

I also linked up with My Simple Country Living for Thanksgiving Recipe Challenge

First Frost

November 11, 2011

I was hoping it would hold off just a tad bit longer.........Our first frost came last night, the coldest night we had so far this season in south Louisiana.   I still had cucumbers growing and still flowering, and so was the zucchini.  I wasn't set up to build hoop houses around what i had growing, maybe next year.

This WAS my cucumbers that were growing up a trellis. This fall crop did better than my spring crop, guess is was too hot and dry this summer.

I had two zucchini plants that did pretty well as a fall planting also.  The bees and butterflies were all over this garden site, this plant just kept flowering.  I will definitely make note of the plantings i did this fall, and be better prepared with hoops next fall. 

I'm satisfied with what we got out the garden this year, stretching out the growing season definitely payed off.  We still have swiss chard, pak choi, mustard greens, turnips, kale and shallots growing at this time.  Lots of greens to get us through the winter!!!!!!!

This morning i picked what was left of the cucumbers and decided to make a batch of Refrigerator pickles.

I found this easy refrigerator pickle recipe on http://www.myrecipes.com/  it's quick, and no need for kettle steamers, and vacuum tight lids.  It takes about 4 days to pickle and can be stored in the refrigerator for one month. 

Ingredients:

6 cups thinly sliced pickling cucumbers

2 cups thinly sliced onions

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard seed

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper

4 sm cloves garlic thinly sliced

I layered the sliced cucumbers and onions in a 2 1/2 qrt glass jar.( i repurposed an old pickle jar that i had)  Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a saucepan, stir well and bring to a boil for 1 min. until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over cucumbers in jar.  Cover and let cool on counter.  Refrigerate after cooled and let it pickle for 4 days or so.  Will keep for about a month.   In this house those pickles won't last that long.

Don't worry about the liquid portion, it looks like it's not enough, but as it sits in the refrigerator, the vinegar pulls the water from the cucumbers and the onions, and it will eventually cover up the cucumbers as they pickle.

Can't wait to taste these............

I'm linking up to Deborah Jeans Dandelion House for Farmgirl Friday and Lil' Suburban Homestead for Ole" Saturday homesteading trading post to share some farmgirl skills  Click the farmgirl link and the trading post link and join me in reading about some amazing women.

                                   Live Simple..............................Sheryl

cooking from the garden

October 4, 2011

I realized i haven't posted a recipe in a while......Mater of fact, I've been slacking in my intentions to post recipes regularly.  It seems as though i remember after the fact, like ............when i realize how good it turned out and family says, "you should put that on your blog" and i failed to document it with pictures.  I need to make a point to take the camera out more often when I'm cooking.  I'm also bad about not measuring out ingredients, i just pour and eye things.  Guess i need to make sure i take out measuring spoons and cups and a pen and paper also, to get my recipes more precise for you all.   I promise, i do cook all this stuff i grow...........I do love to cook and i have been around lots of women in my life like my grandmothers and mother who taught me the love of cooking, especially cooking from scratch.

I will share with you a spaghetti i cooked last week that really turned out good, using some fresh homegrown ingredients from the garden.  The only thing that was missing was not having our own home grown beef.  I had to use store bought, and I'm anxiously waiting for the day that my freezer will be full of our own grassfed beef. 

For this recipe i used tomatoes that i canned this summer, green onions and garlic that we grew, and oregano that i dried in my dehydrator.  I also made homemade bread crumbs from stale bread in the dehydrator.

1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground chuck beef
1 egg beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup green onions
2 tbsp milk
salt and pepper to taste

Mix above ingredients into ground beef and roll into meatballs.  Heat oil in pan.  Sprinkle flour over meatballs to coat lightly.  Brown in hot oil until browned and halfway cooked. remove from pan and set aside.

Sauce:
1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 lrg clove of garlic
1 jar/can lrg whole tomatoes
1 can lrg tomato sauce
1 sm can tomato paste
1-2 tbsp dried oregano
1-2 tbsp basil
1-2 tbsp parsley

Brown onion, pepper and garlic in oil until wilted (pan used to brown meatballs).
Add tomatoes and cook for 20 min.  Then add tomato sauce, paste, oregano, basil and parsley, let cook for 15-20 min.

 Add meatballs and continue to simmer for 45 min to 1 hour.  If sauce get too thick you might need to add a little water during cooking.

 I find the longer you let this simmer on low the better the flavors all come together.  Serve over spaghetti noodles.


Oooops!!!!!!!!  i didn't get a finished shot of this served up on the spaghetti.  See......I told you i was horrible at remembering to get that camera out.  I think it was because i tortured everyone for hours as this simmered on the stove, and they were starving to death and jumped right into it before i could serve it up all pretty and such.......YEA!!!!! that's it.......That's what happened... 


Bon Appetit.................                           Live simple.........Sheryl

using up stale bread and surplus of eggs

May 27, 2011

Was looking for a recipe that would make use of some french bread i had laying around and the surplus of eggs we have these days.  I came across this recipe called a "strata", I have never heard of a strata before, but the ingredients were familiar.  I have made omelets and quiches before but this called for day old french bread or Italian bread.  While in my search for a new recipe to use up ingredients i had on hand, i discovered there are many eggs dishes that are similar but some are cooked in different ways.  An omelet is an egg mixture of meats, cheese, vegetables, cooked on top of the stove.  A Frittata is an egg mixture of the same but cooked in an oven.  A quiche is an egg mixture of the same meats, cheese, and  vegetables also but its poured into a pie shell and baked.  A strata is the same with the exception of bread cubed up and its also baked in the oven.  Whats fun about making these dishes is that you can combine what ever you like as far as meats, vegetables and cheese to your liking.  Be creative and use up some leftovers.  My family loved it..........

                            

                                                                Spinach and sausage strata   

I started out by tearing the bread into pieces and covered the bottom of a 9x13 dish.  If you don't have french bread you can use stale slice bread, about 9 slices, enough to have a good layer on the bottom.  I used a 9x9 dish .

Brown breakfast sausage in a skillet, add onions, green onions and parsley and cook until wilted.

Drain spinach and squeeze out any water.

Add meat mixture and drained spinach to bread.  Beat eggs with milk, add salt and pepper or other seasonings of choice, pour over bread mixture, top with cheese and let set on counter for 15-20 minutes to let bread absorb milk.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes until golden and eggs are set, and knife inserted comes out clean.

Spinach and Sausage Strata

9 slices of stale bread; or french bread or Italian bread

1 small pkg breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean)

1 small pkg frozen spinach thawed

9 eggs beaten

2 cups milk or half and half

shredded cheese of choice

1 small onion, green onions and parsley

salt and pepper to taste

This is an quick and easy recipe that my family loves for brunch on the weekends.  Give it a try and let me know what you think............

               Thanks for stopping by.......................................

                        Live simple........................................Sheryl