cucumber madness!

So this is our very first garden and we didn't know what to expect as far as what it would produce and how it would grow.  Thus far we have enjoyed a little salad, two side dishes of green beans, about 4 strawberries (yeah we probably won't grow those again), maybe 8 pea pods and now the cucumbers have started to ripen and whoa!  I can't keep up with them.  Yesterday I brought in three and I'm holding off on picking two more that are about ready. 

Luckily I like cucumbers and if anyone has any recipe suggestions please share!

I love a cucumber salad and I threw together a quick one yesterday.  

1 Cucumber peeled and thinly sliced
about 1/4 white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup sliced onion
couple tablespoons of fresh dill
 

Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour.  The longer it sits the better it is.  This is pretty forgiving and if you use more cucumbers up the amount for the vinegar and sugar. 

It is fresh and summery and perfect for 90 degree weather!

There has been an awful lot of food talk on here lately huh?  I'm hungry all the time.

Our kitchen cabinetry is finally on the horizon and should be done within the next few weeks.  I have a stool makeover to take care for the little "desk" spot we'll have that I'm hoping to share next week.

Happy Friday!

Happy 4th, have a cookie!

Our good friend is coming over with her boys this afternoon to eat and celebrate.  She let this pregnant lady be lazy and she is bringing along the main course, BBQ sandwiches, yum!  So, I didn't have to do much but grab some chips and chop some veggies for dip. 

I did want to make a special cookie and this recipe from Annie's Eats sounded delicious

Ingredients:

For the cookie bars:

• 5 cups flour
• 1 teas salt
• 1/2 teas baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teas vanilla extract
• Zest from 1 lemon

For the frosting:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teas vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 5 tbs milk
• Food coloring

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a large baking sheet (13″x18″) with parchment paper and grease.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time until incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed. Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest. Add the flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.
Using your hands or a flat bottomed glass, press the cookie mixture into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before adding the frosting.
Make the frosting: In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the vanilla and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the confectioners’ sugar. Add the milk, if needed to create a smooth texture. If using food coloring, mix it in now.
Spread the frosting evenly over bars, cut evenly, and serve.


The quantity sounded like a bit much and truthfully I was terrified if they were there I'd just eat them all so I halved it and they turned out great.  I tinted my frosting blue then did my best attempt at firework designs in red.  They kinda look like spiderwebs but who is gonna complain when they are eating a frosted sugar cookie?

Enjoy!

scapes

We had our first CSA pick up Tuesday.  We got tons of wonderful stuff and I'm already thrilled that we decided to join.  Included in our goodies were garlic scapes.  What?  Yeah, I didn't know much about them either.  The first I had heard of them was from family last year when they were participating with a CSA.  Turns out the greens that sprout from the top of a head of garlic are rather delicious.  You can do a ton with them and they are pretty wacky looking.

You can incorporate them in lots of recipes and they blended nicely with our beef fajitas the other night.  They have a texture that reminds me of a green bean and a mild garlic/onion flavor.  I saw a recommendation to make pesto with them and since I have a basil plant, a pile of scapes and a husband who loves pesto it sounded like perfection to me.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup fresh basil leaves (loosely set in measuring cup)
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes*
• Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A few generous grinds of black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

 * feel free to add other herbs.  I added a smidge of flat leaf parsley because I love it with everything. 

Combine everything but the oil in a food processor and pulse until it starts to combine.  Then slowly add the olive oil while pulsing until blended.  Store in the fridge.  Also freezes well!

I went a little heavy with the cheese in mine.  I can't help it. 

We'll be serving our pesto with spaghetti tonight alongside grilled chicken that I'm marinating in some of the pesto, lemon juice and oil.  Oh, and a salad with some of the wonderful greens from the CSA.  It's only been a couple days but I already feel like we are eating more veggies.  I'm not the best at getting lots of varied veggies for us when shopping at the grocery store.  We generally end up eating lots of the same stuff over and over.  This is introducing some much needed variety to our diets and I'm glad to say our little one ate a pile of raw peas fresh from the pod yesterday and also tried his first radish.  Have you ever tried radishes with butter and salt?  So delicious!

Just smear some butter on and sprinkle with salt.

Mmmm... wish we had more.  I ate them all already : )

no bake PB cookies

Last night I wanted something sweet but didn't feel like turning the oven on.  I remembered this recipe I found here and got to work.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups rolled oats (old fashioned) [*Quick oats will make the mixture too gooey]

Directions:

1. In lg saucepan, mix sugar, butter, and milk; bring to a full, rolling boil over med heat. (full, rolling boil = large bubbles rising to surface that can't be stirred down).
2. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly.
    
   
    
3. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until peanut butter is melted; stir in oats.
4. Working quickly, drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.
    
   
    
   
   
   
   
   I decided that about a 1/4 cup of chocolate chips couldn't hurt matters so I went ahead and threw them in with the oats.
   
   
   They are sweet, really sweet.  Like a peanut butter cup with oats mixed in.  A sugar bomb was how I explained my first bite to my husband.  A wonderfully delicious sugar bomb.
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

ranch beef skillet

One pot wonder, casserole crazy, call me what you will but I love any meal that involves me tossing a bunch of stuff in a dish, leaving it alone and coming back to find dinner.   I had the recipe for this dish sitting around for a while before we finally tried it.  I don't know why we didn't have it sooner.  It is now in regular rotation and we are big fans.

RANCH BEEF SKILLET

1 lb. ground beef

1 box (8 oz.) seasoned rice & black beans

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 box (10 oz.) frozen corn kernels

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1. Cook beef in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up clumps of meat with a spoon, 4 minutes or until beef is no longer pink. Drain.
2. Stir in rice and beans, tomatoes, corn and 2½ cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.

ready to boil away

 We top it with grated cheddar, sour cream and guacamole and use blue corn chips to scoop it up if we so desire.  We might have had a bag of fritos around once and when you sprinkle them on top, oh heaven!  Not the healthiest so that is only a special treat.

 Yum!  Enjoy!

The Shabby Creek Cottage
Delightful Order
its overflowing

basic quiche

I love a quiche.  This simple recipe is super easy and allows for tons of variation.  Makes a great, breakfast, brunch, lunch, well you get the point. 

You'll need:

1 pre-made pie crust or homemade pie crust if that is the way you roll
4 eggs
1 cup half and half
salt
pepper
garlic powder  ( I just randomly shake in all three without measuring)
roughly 3 cups of filling but two cups works fine too. For my St. Patty's green quiche I used:
1 cup frozen broccoli cooked and finely chopped
1 cup frozen spinach cooked and finely chopped
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Lay your pie crust in pie plate or if you are like me and forgot you broke yours you can use a 9" round cake pan.  Crimp the edges and get the oven preheated to 425 degrees.  There is no need to pre bake your shell.  I never do and it turns out fine.  Beat your eggs and half and half together with a whisk.  Add seasoning.  Some people like nutmeg or a little cayenne.  Get creative but you can't go wrong with salt, pepper and garlic.  Place your fillings in the pie shell and pour the egg and cream mixture over the top.

Bake in 425 oven for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and continue baking for 25 minutes until crust is golden and filling is set.

That is it!  So easy and really delicious.  I've done ham, cheese and broccoli, bacon cheese and tomato, just cheese and broccoli with chives.  A smoked salmon one would be really good.  You could probably do a good southwestern turkey one, with tomato and pepper jack cheese and shredded turkey.  The possibilities are endless.

my green quiche

My little guy and I got in the car earlier to run an errand and one of my favorite songs from when I was 13 was on.  Smashing Pumpkin's "Soma".  I probably listened to that song 25 times a day.  I turned it up as loud as seemed appropriate for a 2 1/2 year old's ears and I dare say he was enjoying it as much as me.  I can only imagine when he is 15 and I turn that song up really loud again and try to convince him it is awesome he will roll his eyes and find me lame.  For now Mama's taste in music seems to go over pretty well and my little pal got a rainbow sprinkle cookie from the bakery for his music appreciation. 

Happy Wednesday!

The shady porch
Uncommon Designs
At The Picket Fence

bread with friends

Two lovely bloggers have kindly passed along the Liebster award to me.




Lindsey at Todd & Lindsey.  She shares lots of excellent recipes and projects.  Just look at what she did with this dresser!







and Nancy of  Life Designed.  She is studying interior design and does some seriously inspiring work.  Since we've got a dresser theme going look at this lovely ikea rast makeover





Wow, right?!  Thanks so much ladies!  Nothing makes me happier than to know people are visiting my blog and liking what they see.   I do what I do because I enjoy it and I'd be doing all this stuff anyway but lets be honest, we blog so we can share and connect.  So, it feels good to have a little love sent my way!  I've received the Liebster once before so I'm not sure if it's custom to pass it along to 5 other bloggers again but I wanted to say thanks and give a shout out to Nancy and Lindsey.  Please pay them a visit, say hi and follow along!

If they lived down the street I'd bring them each a loaf of this

My wonderful friend who also happens to be a wonderful baker taught me two bread recipes this week.

Here is the first:

2 1/4 cups water at 110-120 degrees
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
6 cups flour
4 1/2 tsp yeast (instant)
1 T salt

Here is the second:

2 cups milk at 110-120 degrees
2 T sugar
1/2 cup butter melted
5-6 cups of flour
4 1/2 tsp yeast (instant)
1T salt.

We used unbleached all purpose flour.  The directions for both are the same and I apologize for not having more pictures but I was trying to watch and learn and the best way for me to do that is to just do rather than take notes and pictures.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir until blended, a dough scraper will help with this.  Once the dough is coming together transfer to a floured surface and start kneading.  My friend did a fold, rotate and push with the heels of your hands motion that I sorta got the hang of.  It is so much by feel and she said however it happens doesn't matter, just as long as it happens.  That is my favorite sort of directions!  So you knead until the dough feels more uniform and a bit sticky

Now its time for it to rise.  Spray a bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl.  Cover loosely with some plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray and leave it in a warm quiet place for an hour.  It will roughly double in size in that time.

This recipe makes two loaves so remove the dough from the bowl and cut in half.  To make a regular loaf spread it out into a rectangular shape and then roll it up.  Pinch the seam, place in a sprayed loaf pan and mash it down with your hands.  Cover loosely with the same plastic wrap and leave it to rise for another hour or until it has risen up just above the rim of the bread pan like this.

To braid a loaf you take the dough after the first rise and cut into three equal lengths.  Then you braid like you are braiding your hair, tuck the ends under and leave to rise for an hour covered with plastic wrap. 

They bake in a 350 degree oven.  The loaf takes about 40 minutes but keep an eye on it depending on your oven.  The braid takes about 20 minutes.  The most helpful thing I learned is to take the temp with a meat thermometer.  The loaf should reach an internal temp of 190 degrees so when you are there you are done! 

Bread making intimidated me.  I apologize if this isn't the best step by step directions you ever read.  As I bake more and fine tune the process I will share more.  I see now how like many things it is a practice you must get the feel of and that takes repeating.  I'm happy to eat more bread so I'll be repeating often.  I've gotta say it isn't so scarey though.  Much more forgiving than I thought which pleases me to no end and seriously is there anything better than warm bread and butter?

after the first rise when you poke the dough the indents should remain

So, bake some bread.  Do it with a friend.  It's fun to chat and knead. 

Hey, I'd love it if you'd follow me with linky followers or GFC!