Tag : baking

5 posts

T Tuesday: not a food blog edition

This post may make you think twice if you’ve arrived at the right place. It’s centered around food. Growing, eating, drinking, and baking with a little artsy-crafty splash thrown in just so you remember where you are.

This is my new favorite breakfast. Blueberry Oatmeal Bake. I found the recipe on Pinterest…where else?!  I modified things slightly to fit the ingredients that I had plus I don’t like using artificial sweeteners.

Check out this kohlrabi I got in our CSA box! Crazy!! I haven’t cut it open yet…I’m thinking today. I set it next to the loaf of bread we got as well with our farm share this week. I love it when they do community partnerships.

Between the beans from the CSA and my garden I needed to can some more spicy beans. I mixed up a double batch of the brine since I had so many. Not wanting to pour it down the sink, I grabbed some random veggies to try in a jar with some extra spices since I wasn’t including a jalapeno. Time will tell if we enjoy them or not.

Speaking of the garden…the high heat and humidity have done a number on the garden. The beans and squash have quit producing and of course you know about my deer chomped tomatoes. I was watching a youtube video about harvesting potatoes and the gardener mentioned doing a second planting of some of the quick turn around crops that stop production in the heat. Hmm…sounds exactly like what’s happening here. He said to look up the first frost date and count backwards from there to see if there is enough time. Our first frost date is Oct. 2nd so I have time!! I’ll let you know next week what I decided upon.

Since we’re talking about outdoor things…look at these lovely lilies my neighbor so generously lets me pick.  She had some other colors but those must be a little tastier to the deer…they beat me to them. My tiger lilies should be blooming this week…if the deer don’t get them first. Darn deer!!

With the heat and humidity I’ve been drinking tons of water. That gets boring sometimes so need to mix it up. My new favorite is club soda with a squeeze of lime or lemon. So refreshing.

All my walking is doing something that I hadn’t really noticed until I put on a shirt I hadn’t worn since my birthday.

I’ve lost 12 lbs. Both my walking and staying away from things such as those in the birthday basket I received. I want to keep this momentum going. Wish me luck!

On Saturday our state wide mask order went into effect for all indoor public spaces…its about time if you ask me.

I started making more masks. J will need a bunch at college. Mini-me will be doing her classes at home for her college courses. We find out later this week what the fate of K-12 school will be.

Are you still with me…I think we’ve finally arrived at the artsy part.

I’m not in love with this page as a whole. But I do love some of the little details.

The textures….

The colors…

And the message.

Today has me replanting in the garden, sewing and stupid household chores.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: this and that edition

Once again I have one of these posts that I’m all over the place both mentally and physically.

Tomorrow is our 23rd wedding anniversary. With it being mid-week, we are planning to do basically nothing until Saturday. Then we’ll be having sushi!

I thought this was clever. My neighbor gave me a few of these quite a while ago. Funny the things you find when digging out for a garage sale!

You wouldn’t believe the piles of stuff I have sitting around waiting to be priced and brought to the neighbors on Thursday morning!! Mr. G has a ton of stuff from the garage too. Hopefully the vast majority will sell…not really wanting that stuff to come back into the house.  Garage sales are a lot of work but when doing it with others it can be fun and having the bonus of getting rid of stuff while making a little cash is a super bonus.

I transplanted my seedlings into larger containers yesterday.

They are doing so well. I also planted zucchini and summer squash in pots on the side of the garage.  I’ve read that they can be grown in pots so might as well give it a try since my in-laws aren’t having a garden this year.

I snipped the end off my mint plant and put it in water a few days ago…look at the crazy roots it grew in such a short time.

If I get a chance I want to make a wreath for our new front door. I really shouldn’t be worrying about that right now since I still have to get it painted, I just need to do something crafty every so often or I get cranky.

Speaking of crafty….look at this dessert I made for Easter!

It was so decadent and sweet. Almost too rich and sweet if there was such a thing.

The rest of the week will be a whirlwind. Appointments, garage sale, anniversary and J heading to NYC on Saturday. It’s likely a really good thing that I am insanely busy until then because I think I’d be making myself sick with worry if not.

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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T Tuesday: rum cake edition

This year for Christmas we changed things up a bit.  In the past several years we’ve had a Christmas brunch and it worked out very well since the kiddos weren’t too great at waiting to open presents. In those days I think they would have preferred everyone spend the night and get up at 6am.  Since they are older now, we decided moving back to a more traditional time for our family was best. That meant we’d need a dessert.

I decided to make a rum cake. I’d made this one before and it was so yummy. The recipe comes from a cookbook called Booze Cakes that I checked out from the library.  The first time I made it I used a standard bundt pan in the classic bundt shape. This time I decided to get a little adventurous and use my fancy bundt pan since it looks a bit like Christmas trees.

rum cake

As it was baking, I was realizing that the tree pan was smaller than the classic pan…I kept watching it in fear that it would run over as it baked. I was lucky…

rum cake

Look how beautifully it came out of the pan! I took a lot of time preparing the pan in hopes that it would work.  So cute!

rum cake

Remember I mentioned this was from a cookbook called Booze Cakes…yeah…that bottle was full when I started and I wasn’t sampling. I don’t even like rum in drinks…but I sure do in cake!!!

Just before serving I dusted the entire cake with powdered sugar giving it the appearance of snow. I totally forgot to snap a photo though. You’ll just have to take my word for it. It was yummy and boozy.

The kids head back to school after winter break so I’ll be all by myself for a change…well I’ll still have Marvin to keep me company.

Marvin

What are you doing today?

T stands for Tuesday

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T Tuesday: domestically inclined edition

Hello there…you came back for yet another edition of T stands for Tuesday! Thank you! For those of you who are new to my blog, WELCOME and let me tell you a little about T stands for Tuesday. Elizabeth aka alteredbooklover hosts a weekly link up or virtual tea party, if you will, where we share what ever the heck we want for the week as long as we can somehow tie a beverage or beverage related item into the mix. Pretty simple huh? So lets get on with it, shall we…

This week I’ve been a mix of artsy and domestic. I’ve previously posted a couple of artsy things so now you get to see some of my domesticity. Last week…no, two weeks ago (geez where does the time go) I shared our “new” hutch for T stands for Tuesday. I mentioned that I need to make a curtain to cover the wine rack shelf. I went searching through a box of vintage linens and found the perfect solution.

vintage linen

Simple beauty. These were my Grandma’s as well. Or perhaps her sisters…a cousin of mine just told me a story that my grandma talked her sister out of a bunch of linens saying that she needed them more in the parsonage than her sister did on the farm.  Hmmm…

vintage linen

I’m guessing these were purchased by my grandparents in Minneapolis if the stickers are to be believed. Dayton’s became a upscale department store here in the midwest and started the discount chain Target.

After ironically running to Target to pick up a tension rod, I realized that I wouldn’t even have to cut these linens. I folded them in half and ran a straight line of stitching an inch from the fold.

vintage linen curtain

This gave me a double layer of fabric providing more light blocking which was exactly what I was going for with this project.

vintage linen curtain The linen curtain makes this piece feel more Scandinavian. Marvin still loves his spot by the door and really could care less about the curtain.

canning

I did a bit of canning and baking as well when the weather cooled down.

spicy beans

I made spicy beans, zucchini bread and pumpkin bread. I like having a little bit of baked goods in the freezer just in case we are suddenly having company and I was completely out.

I also have to share a day that Mini-me  and I had about a month ago. I keep meaning to share but it just hasn’t worked out. She’s been wanting to dye her hair…not all of it but some. A streak or some underneath. She just couldn’t decided so we waited. She finally decided, so we did it.


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It’s faded now quite a bit so we are going to redo it likely in the next couple weeks before school starts.

We went out to eat at Old Chicago to celebrate her fun new hair. It’s one of her favorite restaurants.

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Well that’s it for today. I’ve got another busy Tuesday ahead of me but I’ll be around eventually to visit.

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: early harvest edition

Since school has been out I feel as if I’m busier than before. Not sure how that happened. Yesterday we went to my in-laws house to plant in their garden. I had 3 tomato plants yet to plant from the ones I started back in March. I also planted summer squash, green beans and snow peas.

So where does the harvest come in, you ask. They have a huge strawberry patch and wanted us to pick. Mini-me and I picked nearly three 5 quart ice cream pails full.

I also harvested some rhubarb so I could make a batch of muffins. Mini-me and I are the only ones who will eat rhubarb, so I’m cautious on how much I pick. I baked these muffins in the afternoon.

rhubarb muffins

I’m really not much of a baker. In fact I don’t like to do it at all. Too much measuring. Rules to follow. Not my thing. But this recipe, which I slightly adapted from the original on allrecipes.com, turned out perfect in looks, texture and taste.

Rhubarb muffins

  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups diced rhubarb

sugar crumb topping

  • 1 Tbsp melted butter
  • 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Using an electric mixer, combine first 5 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Then add the dry ingredients.  Again mix until thoroughly incorporated. Lastly toss in the rhubarb. This may be easier done by hand unless you have a large paddle on your mixer.

Place muffin liners in pan and fill each nearly to the top. Next melt the butter and add the sugar and cinnamon. (next time I think I’ll add some rolled oats for more texture) scoop a bit on topping on each muffin.

Bake at 350°F for 25 mins and enjoy.

rhubarb muffins

Today will be spent painting mini-me’s room. She’s picked out a very sophisticated grey. I’ll share some before and after photos when we’re done…hopefully next week for T stands for Tuesday!

What are you doing today?

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