Just a couple of pictures to show you how much they’ve grown since we saw them in January. Suddenly they’re 17 months old.
More to follow. 🙂
~~Rhonda
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chicken salad
April 10, 2009 – 12:45 pm
Supper was quick and easy last night…chicken salad on homemade rolls. Delicious. 🙂
Rhonda’s Chicken Salad
1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple
6 c. diced, cooked chicken or turkey
1 c. red or green seedless grapes, sliced [I used red.]
2 T. dry minced onion or 4 green onions, diced
1 c. diced celery
1/2 c. toasted pecan pieces
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. dry dill
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. light mayonnaise
Mix all ingredients well.
6-8 servings.
~~Rhonda
mowing tour
April 9, 2009 – 7:40 pm
When I mow, I usually take my camera with me. Especially in the spring when everything is fresh and new and exciting. I took all but the first of these pictures from my mower yesterday. 🙂
As I left the back door, I stopped to take a picture of the Poet’s daffodils in the little rock garden by the kitchen. These daffs came from the farm where DH grew up.
Now I’m on the mower and rounding the front of the east yard. A wonderful scent wafts across the yard from the Judd viburnum. We bought this shrub after discovering it in the Missouri Botanical Gardens one spring.
On the west side of the front yard, the flowering quince is in full bloom. We brought this shrub from our previous home. I always think of it as DD#2’s shrub as she always claimed it at the other house.
Under the oak tree on the west side of the front yard, the bluebells are blooming. The small yellow plants around the bluebells have sprung up from seeds from the hedgerow viburnum. I think it’s a Viburnum tinus, but the hedge was planted by the previous owner and I am not sure of the variety. The new plants come up a pretty yellow, but as they mature, they turn a dark green. We will pull those out, or pot them up for the plant sale, or give them away…not sure which road we’ll go down. This particular viburnum grows quickly into a large shrub, and makes an excellent screen. The white flowers in spring draw lots of bees and butterflies and give way to blue-black berries. I’ve watched cedar waxwings eating the berries in March. A catbird used to makes its nest in the shrub each year. A great plant for wildlife. But back to the bluebells…
When the west side of the front yard is done, I mow the center of the driveway, then I go back to the east side of the yard and mow the little bit of yard that sits on the north side of the fenced garden.
The Poet’s daffodils are beautiful right now.
And under the redbud tree, the hostas are emerging. This one is a beautiful plant named ‘Summer Music.’
The dogwood blossoms are open, but are a day or two from turning white.
Now the front yard is done (that took about 40 minutes, not counting photo ops), and we can move to the back yard which, for the purposes of mowing, I divide into the “back yard” and the “woods.” On my way to the woods, where I mow the paths and around the burn pile, I pass the pawpaw tree. We moved this tree from the woods on DH’s family farm. The flowers are not fully open yet.
The leatherleaf viburnum, which is going to be loaded with flowers this year, is looking great. Just beginning to blossom.
In the woods, the Spring Beauties are poking through the leaf litter.
They’re one of my favorite spring flowers.
And under the old black cherry tree in the far corner of the yard, the bluebells are swinging in the breeze.
Now the woods is finished and we’ll mow the back yard. These little violets, named ‘Freckles,’ were here when we bought the house. They grow under the big Southern Oak, just behind the kitchen.
Under the apple trees, the Sweet William and violets are growing with abandon.
Mowing the back yard / woods takes another 40 minutes and now it’s time to put the mower away. Coming around the garage, I stop one last time to catch a shot of the fenced garden from the south.
I love the beautiful variety of blooms and blossoms in springtime. I hope you’ve enjoyed them, too.
~~Rhonda
supernatural brownies
April 4, 2009 – 9:22 pm
The recipe is from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers, by Nick Malgieri (Morrow Cookbooks, 1998). The recipe in the book calls for baking the brownies for “about 45 minutes.” I read multiple blogs regarding the same recipe, and most thought the brownies were better if taken from the oven after 30 minutes. Too long and they become too dry.
I don’t know why the author chose to call them supernatural…perhaps he thought they were “out of this world” good?
Supernatural Brownies
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado Don’t worry about “muscovado.” Plain old brown sugar will do the trick. Add a tablespoon of molasses if you want that extra dark rich flavor.
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts, optional. I omitted these and added 1 cup of mini chocolate chips.
I added 1 tablespoon instant coffee crystals to the egg mixture.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper.
In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. I melted the butter and chocolate separately in the microwave. Cover the butter or it may splatter. Melt it at 40% power for about 40 seconds. Check and give it a few more seconds on 40% until mostly melted. For melting the chocolate, I put it in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes on 40% power. If the chocolate is mostly melted but has chunks in it, don’t return it to the microwave. Stir it for a few minutes until the chunks are melted. Too long or too hot in the microwave can make the chocolate burn.
In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla. I mixed by hand, no need to pull out the mixer.
Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Or, as in my case, stir in the mini chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack. I baked them for 30 minutes.
Yield: 15 large or 24 small brownies. I cut these into 30 squares and they were a perfect size to take to the church dinner. Larger would have been too much of a good (and very rich) thing.
The original recipe says: For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.
There is no brownie in the world that is going to sit around here for 24 hours before being sampled. Sorry. That’s just the way it is. These brownies are delicious! DD said, “You are going to have to make more of these. A lot.” And she’s right. I had a favorite brownie recipe, but these are better. I guess I have a new favorite.
~~Rhonda 🙂
crock pot apples
April 3, 2009 – 5:19 pm
My dear friend Mary posted this recipe and I’ve used it before. Delicious apples for an accompaniment to pork dishes, as a dessert or snack, and delicious on ice cream. Like apple pie without the crust or added calories.
2-6 apples, depending on how many you want. I used 5 today; a combination of Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Jonathan.
cinnamon
grated nutmeg, optional but adds a delicious extra flavor
sugar
pat of butter
I like to peel the apples, but you don’t have to. Wash them well. Cut into wedges and remove the core.
Place the apple slices in a greased crock pot. I have a small one that works perfectly for this.
Put half the apples in, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, add the additional apples, and sprinkle on more cinnamon and sugar. The amount is up to you. I use about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon altogether and about 3 T. sugar. I add a small amount of freshly grated nutmeg over the apples, too. Just a few slides up and down the microplane grater. Top with a pat of butter.
Cook on high for two hours or low for four hours. After two hours on high, the apples were perfect. After I had lifted the crock pot lid and stirred the apples to check them, DD hollered from the other room, “I smell deliciousness!”
They were wonderful on vanilla ice cream, BTW.
~~Rhonda
dogwood blossoms
April 3, 2009 – 3:34 pm
The dogwood trees are beginning to open their buds. We have three dogwoods ready to bloom. One is still in a tight bud, one has blossoms still cupped and and one has blossoms that have opened but haven’t turned white yet. Last year, they had no more than a few flowers. I guess the hard freeze we had so late the year before interrupted the bloom cycle. But this year, they are loaded with blossoms.
~~Rhonda
pretty spring day
April 1, 2009 – 7:26 pm
This afternoon, DH and did a little yard work. That means DH shoveled a lot of mulch and I got to drive the mower, pulling the wagon.
The redbud trees are at their peak of perfection right now.
The Virginia bluebells look so pretty in the evening sunlight.
This was taken from the back yard, looking down the slope toward the trees. We need to plant daffodils along the edge of the woods. This morning, at dawn, DH was looking out the kitchen window, which has this same view, and saw four deer chasing a fox away from our little woods. The fox tried to go back several times and the deer chased it away each time.
I wondered if the deer were protecting a fawn. We’ve scared them up in the back yard before. So, after finishing the yard work, DD and I took a ride on the mower to see if we could find any deer. Nope, none to be seen. At least, not this time. But I did get a nice picture of the back of the house from the bottom of the slope.
Around the base of the oak, there are a lot of spring flowers blooming. Bleeding hearts and violets…
Sweet William, which we dug years ago from the woods near the farm where DH grew up.
This morning I found a cabbage butterfly on a daffodil. The air was chilly enough that the butterfly wasn’t warm enough to fly away, so I was able to get some nice closeup shots.
The beauty of God’s creation never ceases to amaze me.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20
~~Rhonda
menu plan monday on tuesday ~ march 31, 2009
March 31, 2009 – 1:13 pm
Forgot to post this yesterday and don’t have much time today, so am posting quickly. I hope you have your own menu planned for the week!
Monday
salmon
baby baked potatoes
asparagus
Tuesday
cheesy potato / sausage soup
rosemary crackers
Wednesday
enchiladas
Thursday
crock pot pork chops [with a can of cream of mushroom soup and half an envelope of onion soup mix]
rice
corn
Caesar salad
crock pot apples
Friday
tilapia
accordion potatoes
stir-fried sugar snap peas
corn
Saturday
fridge food
Sunday ~ church dinner
potato / sausage casserole in the crock pot
steamed green beans
apple upside down cake / ice cream
Sunday evening
pizzookies
You will find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
sugar cookie bars
March 30, 2009 – 10:06 pm
DD had a sports awards night to attend at school, and we were to take a dozen cookies. I saw Sugar Cookie Bars at Anissa’s Kitchen and decided to give them a try. They are also posted on My Baking Addiction. Click on her link to see how cute hers are! A little more trouble than simply frosting the entire sheet of cookies as a whole, but don’t they look yummy?
Sugar Cookie Bars
1 cup butter; room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl combine flour, salt and baking soda. Stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased 13 x 18 baking sheet.
The dough was stiff. I added two tablespoons of water to the dough as it was mixing, as it seemed too dry to me. I sprinkled flour over the top of the dough after placing it on the greased cookie sheet, so it was easier to spread with my fingers. I patted it out to fit the pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. I baked it for 13 minutes. That was perfect. It passed the taste test, by the way…DD and I both checked…just to be on the safe side…
Cool completely and frost. I used a piping bag and a star tip to squiggle a line of frosting on each bar.
Frosting
1/2 cup butter; room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp clear vanilla [I used almond extract.]
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (if desired)
Combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until combined. Add milk and mix until smooth and spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cookie. Top with sprinkles.
This is an easy treat to make and one that travels well to a potluck or, as in our case, a sports awards night at school. 🙂
~~Rhonda