Gardening

For as long as I can remember, my grandma had a garden.  It was huge.  Being a mother to 9 kids, back in the olden days, having no money, the family lived off that garden.  I have memories of helping Grandma pick whatever was ripe and bringing it into the kitchen.  I have memories of chasing my cousins through the tall stalks and of seeing my grandma's windowsill lined with lots of tomatoes.

My other grandma had a garden as well.  She never let me get into that thing though.  But I do remember all the tomatoes she had on her counters and windowsills.  She always had yellow 'maters and I thought that was so cool.

My dad has always had a garden as well.  I grew up messing around in it, picking things I shouldn't, eating unwashed tomatoes, accidentally rubbing my eyes after picking habanero peppers and seeing a bowl full of tomatoes and cucumbers out the wazoo.

My daddy even grew horseradish and made his own (wearing a snorkeling mask)! 

Oh the memories I have of gardening.

When I got married, I started my own garden.

It just seemed like the normal thing to do.

I'm no where near the gardener that my grandmas or daddy are but I try.

Each year my garden has had ups and downs.

This year has been pretty good considering the hot dry weather we've been having.

Banana peppers, cucumbers, jalapenos, zucchini and tomatoes.

We even planted some yellow 'maters!

My secrets are:  human hair to keep the rabbits out, boy pee to keep the deer out (I let them pee around the perimeter), grass clippings and Preen to keep the weeds under control.

Three of my tomato plants are suffering from Blight and have not produced yet.  Their withered yellow leaves just stand there.  The stink bug has all but gobbled one of my zucchini plants (use SEVEN dust for that) but we were out of town and that little bug worked fast!

But I'm still managing to harvest about every 3 days and get a tray-full of goodies!

Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler

Hello neglected blog.  I'm still here.  I just don't think to grab my camera in the midst of my cooking lately.  I set it on the counter last night though and made a mental promise to myself to take more pics of food.

Let me leave you with what we had for dessert last night!

Here's the recipe for Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler.

I tried to post the link but to get it online, you have to subscribe for a free 14-day trial of the magazine.

4 T. unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces, and 8 T. melted and cooled.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest

3 cups blueberries (fresh)

1 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the 4 cut pieces of butter into a 9x13 and melt in oven about 10 minutes.  2.  While that is going on, pulse 1/4 cup sugar and the lemon zest in food processor about 5-6 pulses or until combined; set aside.  Using a potato masher, mash blueberries and 1 T. of the lemon sugar in a separate bowl, until coursely mashed.

3.  Combine flour, remaining sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.  Whisk in milk and the melted and cooled 8 tablespoons of butter.  Remove baking dish from oven and pour batter into dish.

4.  Dollop mashed blueberries all over batter evenly.  Sprinkle with remaining lemon sugar and bake until golden brown and edges are crisp, 45-50 minutes.  Let cobbler cool for 30 minutes before serving.

This is delish (better than P-dub's recipe, we think).

Cranberry Chicken (Repost!)

Update to this post!  A friend tried it and told me it was missing something.  Good but missing something.  I looked back over my post and FORGOT to add one ingredient!  A small bottle of Catalina Dressing!  OOPS!  Yeah, you definitely need that!

This is a recipe I got from my cousin years ago and I've kept making it ever since.

It's sooo easy and yummy!

A pic of My Man's plate.

Yes, those are indeed brussel sprouts!

Saute them in bacon grease and garlic...delish!

Cranberry Chicken Recipe

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (depending on how many mouths you cook for)

1 can cranberries (not just the sauce...make sure the can says cranberries)

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup mix

Crock-Pot

Lay chicken in crock-pot.  Mix together cranberries and soup mix and dump over chicken.  Set on low for 6-8 hours. 

I serve mine over brown rice which is really good!

4th of July cookies

I found these cute little cookie cutters at Hobby Lobby back in May and knew they would be so cute for the 4th.

My parents came to stay the day/night before and while my mom and I were getting things ready to host a crowd for the 4th, I decided to start the cookies.

It took me about 3 hours to decorate about 20 cookies.

I definitely need to get faster.

Several of my family actually asked me what in the world this was.

You can tell, right?

Please tell me you know what this is.

I really enjoy decorating sugar cookies.

By myself.

And since I have 5 children, I don't get too many chances to that.

So, right now I'll save the sugar cookie decorating for holidays only.

Pasta With Pesto Cream Sauce

Rarely do I make a recipe that would be good enough to serve in a restaurant.

But's it's happened twice to me.

Once was here.

And this one is here.

This was heavenly.

I tried to get back to taking pics of each step and because this recipe is so easy, I don't even think I need to describe each pic.

Those above pics were the making of the pesto.

Below is just cream and butter simmering.

Add the pesto to the cream and simmer a little more.

Prepare pasta, drain and add pesto sauce to pasta.

I served the pasta with braised short ribs but the star, if you ask me, was the pasta.

Make it today!

Dirt and Worms

What kid doesn't love to eat dirt and worms?

Uhhh...my kids for one.

When I told #4 that we were going to have dirt and worms for dessert he started crying.

Like really crying.

I tried explaining that it wasn't really dessert, that it was just pudding and Oreos but he couldn't get past it.

Finally, I decided if he helped me make it he would realize that his terrible mommy wasn't going to really make him eat dirt.

I added "sand" too.

Giving it a try.

That's a lovely worm sticking out of his mouth.

Little Priss decided to dig her worms out and smear them all over the table.