Early morning drive....

A Beautiful Wisconsin View

What to make with my apples......hhmmmm

This morning my sweet husband woke me from a sound sleep in my nice warm bed at 5:30 am to remind me that I promised  that I would drive him to a job he was working on that was an hour away.....
"Really???  Are you sure???.....Did I know what time I would have to get up????"

So I drug myself out of bed......more like hobbled.....(I am still recovering from a horrible pain in my right calf muscle....so no one is mistaking my name for Grace lately....) got dressed and we were on our way. Usually long drives are some of mine and Rob's favorite times together. I haven't seen him for days so I was catching him up on everything that he has been missing....some talks that Dustin had with his band director (which of course led to me telling Rob how Mrs. Holt - my HS band director - asked me to try out for Drum Major, which I did make but that meant I didn't get to ever be a Baton Twirler....dang it....) I told him how I have had an idea for an invention that I was sure would make us Millionaires....I have been telling the kids and D thought it was a great idea....Here is the CRAZY part....it had to do with computers and as I told Rob he says....."oh, they already have that...." HUH???? EXCUSE ME.....I mean it doesn't surprise me that it is not a new idea - but HOW did Rob know it existed???? - He can't turn on a computer.....) There were a few more stories and I noticed Rob hadn't said a word since we left the house and so I asked him if I was boring him....He said No... because the last few mornings he actually had to pull over and get out to walk around to stay awake and this morning there was no chance of dozing off with me in the car (then he looked at me and winked...)......hhhmmm....I will take it as Gratefulness.....

We got to the bridge that he was working on and Dave (our employee) was already there working. We said goodbye and I was on my way back home. The job was over towards the River which is always a beautiful drive. As I started home the sun was just coming over the horizon. The colors in the sky were simply amazing.....the purples and pinks and blues.....beautiful!!!

One of the downfalls of living in the hills is not being able to enjoy sunrises and sunsets like we do in West Texas.....There you can get a great view just about from Anywhere you stand!!! But here, the best place I have found is up on the ridge....So as I drove along the ridge the sun got higher and higher and the colors got brighter and brighter....I finally saw the tip of the sun as I started into the valley.

The road I take on the way home is lined with apple orchards for as far as you can see....Throughout the years it has easily become one of my favorite drives...The rolling hills and the straight lines of trees remind me of a photo out of a magazine....

So it made me think that today is going to be a baking day.....Rob brought me a big bag of apples home the other day.....(I think he was hinting....) so I am looking forward to filling my house with the smell of fresh baked apple something or other.....

When I spoke at Grandma's funeral one of my memories was of the year that Rich and Lisa and then Rob and I had at least 5 apple pies in our freezer at all times.....Whoever thought you would get tired of apple pie but let me tell you that you can get mighty close..... But Grandma loved making them, so as long as we kept bringing her bags of apples she would keep making them. We would take them home, freeze them and when you needed a new one - take one out - thaw it in the microwave then bake....Yummy!!.....We couldn't make a trip to town without Grandma calling telling us to bring back the pie pans and more apples so she could make more....Well the guys were happy to accommodate!!.....sigh.....just missin' her........

Well, I better get busy....Becca and a friend are coming home for the weekend and get here tonight!!!!!!!!Yippee!!! Lots going on but I am so excited! She and Dustin are planning on having a Ton of kids over Friday night for a campfire and then just hanging out.....Will be so good to hear my house filled with teenagers again....I miss that......

So....today I dream for you.....hhhhmmm what direction should I go???? How about today I dream for you a moment to remember your favorite dessert when you were a kid......who made it???? Why is it a great memory????........

Mine was a cake that Momma use to make that was a white cake that she put in the fridge.....it had pineapple and an amazing frosting.....funny that I can't even remember much about it except picturing myself thinking that it was Wonderful......Oh I am sure there are MANY others too.....but I will leave you with that...

Have a great day my friends........

Uniquely different

Uniquely different, originally uploaded by pieceofheaven.

I dream of being different....

I added this to one of my favorite sites to a thread called No Comments Needed. But I was wanting to know that if you were walking around at an art exhibit and saw this photo what would you state that it said to you? You can say something as simple as fun or be as deep as you want. Thanks guys!p>

canning season........

This is my storage area...and it is even before the kids have taken down all the tomato stuff from Sundays canning session - I'll admit I'm pretty proud...We should be good for the Winter....

Today I dream of being done with canning. Well that isn't all true because I actually enjoy it once I get started but it is alot of work and takes alot of time.

Saturday morning Rob woke me up with a kiss and said "I was just wondering..." then I grabbed my pillow and covered my head and kept telling him that I couldn't hear him. I knew what was coming..and then I heard the words.."do you want to do some canning today?" For him it means a winter full of chips and salsa. But for me it means piles of pots and pans and hands that smell like onions. Rob complaining that his hands are on fire because he refuses to wear plastic gloves to cut the jalapenos. It means all of us asking why it is that out of 20 knives not one is sharp enough to cut through a tomato. It means standing at the stove for hours upon hours waiting for pots to warm up - or cool down - and constantly forgetting to set the timer. But probably my biggest pet peeve is the tomato splatters EVERYWHERE. I just resolve myself to the fact that my stove will be a mess and I will deal with it at the end. But as I stand there watching red drops bounce onto my cupboards and the floor and the white wall behind my stove it just means More Work...

This year has been the absolute worst year for our garden. You would think if I said we had so much rain and sun that it would have been great for it. In actuality I think it destroyed it. Our tomato plants got late blight and I haven't had one tomato that was a perfect round and red. They are misshaped and have black cracked tops. We ended up using what we could and got some from the neighbors. Theirs had struggled too though. Our cucumbers did crazy things. They never got big around, they just grew long and narrow. I thought maybe we messed up and got the wrong seed but one of my friends said hers did the same thing. Our onions never got very big at all. They would make great cocktail onions...LOL..They came up and then the tops all died off. I told Rob that Honestly, next year we really really just need to cut back and when it's time to can just go to the Amish and get everything we need for the day. Less stress and guilt - I would be a much happier gardener...

So on Saturday Rob's mom came and helped core tomatoes and cut onions and peppers. The first day we just did salsa all day. On Sunday we worked on Tomatoes, Peppers and Onions - I use those for chili and stuff like that. As we got part way into Sunday's batch Rob started panicking that we needed more tomatoes. He began calling around but had no luck. So as I had my last batch in and the dishes done and counters cleaned a friend called and said the she had scored us more tomatoes. Rob was thrilled. Me and the kids - not so much. So, everything back out and did some more stuff.

At final count for the weekends canning session.
52 Quarts Salsa
19 Quarts Stewed Tomatoes
4 Quarts Spaghetti Sauce
4 Quarts Chili Sauce

And now I keep looking at my canning book and seeing if there a few more things I want to get to before the end of the season. I haven't decided just yet. First I have to get my kitchen back in order before I can start a new mess.

Today I dream for you splatter free walls and that your house doesn't smell of onions like mine does!! LOL!

Have a wonderful day friends!

fresh veggie pasta

I dream of cooking with vegetables straight from my garden. This weekend we had a family reunion that included a potluck. I found a recipe for a pasta that I had been wanting to make and realized that most everything I needed was in my garden.

I had so much fun taking my basket outside and filling it with summer squash, broccoli, tomatoes, onions and peppers. Along with one of my favorite herbs - basil.
Although the recipe claims 10 minute prep time it ended up being 1.5 hours before all was complete. For the vegetables themselves you cut, season and roast them for 40 minutes. Then I decided to put some chicken in mine so that took some time as well as for the pasta. At the end you make a sauce of a little real butter, fresh Parmesan and fresh basil melted in a pan and stirred into the pasta, veggies and chicken.

The result was scrumptious and tasted like summer!! In reality there is such a small window of time for these kinds of meals. Most of our suppers throughout the summer consist of very little meat (unless we do it on the grill) along with sweet corn and steamed veggies...

Our garden is alot of work and sadly this year it is not the best we have had. Our tomatoes have gotten late blight because of all the rain and humidity. So it looks like our big canning extravaganza of tomato products (salsa, stewed tomatoes and tomato soup) will come from some of our Amish friends. (which really doesn't hurt my feelings) They have acres and acres of produce that they grow for Organic Valley(which is about 25 minutes from us). When it comes time to ship their vegetables any that aren't perfect get set aside. So when Rob works up there they send him home with boxes and boxes of fresh veggies of all kinds.

Today I plan to pick greens and possibly do some canning this evening if I get enough. I don't mind it so much really - it is just time consuming but so worth it in the middle of winter.

Well, have a wonderful day and I dream that you can enjoy the vibrant taste of fresh veggies today!!

dreaming of tomatillos

Tomatillo, originally uploaded by pieceofheaven.

I dream of Tomatillos.....yep that I do.

Every year when we plant our garden I am excited to plant my tomatillo plants. But you can't get them around here...(imagine that...) So when it is gardening time I have to make a trip to Madison. I go to the same nursery every year and they haven't failed me yet.

This year my sister was here from Texas and she went with me to pick them up. I forget how blessed we are here to have the kind of vegetation in Wisconsin that we do. It is easy to walk into a nursery or greenhouse around here and walk out with enough vegetable plants to feed a family of 10 for a year. Everything is beautiful. This year I had to stop my husband at 25 tomato plants because for 2 years in a row he was sure he needed 50!!! Anyone who has ever had a tomato plant knows how insane that was. This was along with his 100 potato plants and everything else in his garden. Have I mentioned he is an overachiever? LOL!

Right now my tomatillos are just coming on. They are so fun to watch grow. The papery shell comes first and then the fruit begins to form inside. Finally as it gets larger and larger it bursts through. The tasted is hard to describe...all I can think of is Fresh...To me it is the perfect taste of summer. This year I plan on canning some Salsa Verde which is basically a green enchilada sauce. I haven't done this yet so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Here is one of my favorite recipes:

Ingredients:

4 Fresh ears of corn
1/2 pound Tomatillos --papery skin removed and quartered
1 large Sweet red pepper --quartered seeded
1 Jalapeno pepper --seeded finely diced
1 clove Garlic --finely chopped
1 bunch Cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup Olive oil
3 tablespoons White wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Freshly-ground black pepper

Directions:

Prepare the grill. Peel back the corn husk, remove the silk, enclose the corn once again and grill the corn for 4 to 6 minutes over a hot flame. While the corn is roasting, add the tomatillos and red pepper to the grill and quickly char their exterior. Remove everything from the grill and allow to cool. When cool peel back the husk and, using a sharp knife, remove the corn kernels from the cob. Discard the cob. Cut the red pepper into a julienne and combine the corn, tomatillo, red pepper, jalapeno, garlic and cilantro in a bowl. To the bowl, add the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and allow to marinate for several hours before serving.

If I don't want to do them on the grill I just use a pan to brown things in a little olive oil. It works just as well.

Well if you haven't ever tried tomatillos maybe this will make you want to experiment with them. Otherwise one of these days I want to have a salsa party where everyone brings their favorite salsas....Yummy!! You are all invited!!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!