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Soup Liquid Warmth at Your Fingertips
It is Tuesday. It is snowing. It is dark gray and cold. Company is coming for lunch. Our driveway is a bear to climb and make the turns. So, a warming, aromatic entry will calm the nerves of those who came fishtailing at idiot speeds up the drive. I know my friends!Today there is a pot of soup simmering on the stove. As I have said before, dishes are my passion… so the opportunity to use some deep red pottery bowls is a bonus! With a basket of sliced bagels the vegetable soup is going to be great!Vegetable Soupserves 3 (8 oz servings)Olive oil1/2 medium onion2 mushrooms chopped2 T chopped…
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Hot Topic: What’s in your Garden? Lots of Green &Red! Baked Beets with Feta and Pesto
Folks want to know “What is growing in your garden?” If it was just up to the garden, and not the gardener… the answer would be weeds, weeds, weeds. However, with a quick check of my nail cuticles… you know that at our house it is a daily stretch out there, and the weeds get ‘bucketed’. I do not know a better looking vista, than a neatly planted, well maintained vegetable garden. And hooray, this year we have a frameable picture. Two new rows of lettuce are just popping out. 3 early plantings are so tall… that if I don’t use them quickly (and giving them to friends is tone…
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A Crop of Broccoli Crowns
Fourteen pounds of broccoli are in the freezer. Wow. I went outside to pick a few heads for dinner, and some to take along to a family reunion. The crop was waiting for me! I suppose I should not have been so surprised… I planted them all the same day, but I thought they would have the good sense to come in independently… whoops. Last year we had the good sense to buy a small chest freezer, just in case we might have a few extra items to store for later. Yep, we have it filling now. But before I froze them, I peeled off most of the skin on…
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Military Family Life Question of the week: What is your favorite summer-picnic recipe?
Tonight I get to gather with friends and our families. It will be a casual potluck-picnic. The kids will be in the pool, splashing, laughing & loving life. The adults sitting around the deck, watching the kids, chatting, stuffing our face and enjoying a glass of wine (or two). This is summer! With summer gatherings of all sorts comes the need to bring food. We each bring a dish to share and then “mmmmmm”, “This is so good”, and chomp-chomp together. What is your favorite summer dish? Tonight I am going to make Rhubarb Delight as well as Broccoli Salad (I add fresh-peas to mine … fun to make our…
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Seven layer Holiday Pasta Salad
New Year’s Eve and good friends are coming into town. Time for relaxing, staying out of the kitchen and sharing highlights of the year. Here is a dish that serves well, is pretty and can be a side for anything that fits your fancy! Make it at least 8 hours ahead so that it can chill, and the flavors blend. Seven layer Holiday Pasta SaladPrep time 30 2 c. (4 oz) uncooked farfalle (bow tie) pasta2 c. broccoli flowerets2 medium tomatoes, chopped (1 1/2 c.)1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped (1 c.)1/3 diced red onion1 c. mayonnaise1/2 cup yogurt2 T. sugar (or Splenda)1 1/2 c shredded Cheddar cheese (6 oz)1…
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The Harvest
We have had a great summer and the harvest season is here! Our garden after a lot of work is producing and we have started freezing and canning almost every day. What fun it is to see the fruits of our labor! We started with an empty spot under our power lines a couple of years ago and just kept adding space (plus a fence to keep the deer out). Now the rotor tiller has to work extra hard and long in the spring to get us started! The preparation and planting can be back breaking but healthy as we stretch out the muscles after a winter of cold. We…
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Creamy Poppyseed Dressing
When the garden is bursting with fresh vegetables, and salads ingredients are growing right next to each other, it is the time to host a salad luncheon. Blueberries are at their height right now in Michigan, and blackberries are going deep red… with a few into that beautiful black color. Even the ever bearing strawberries are producing.So, invite your friends, clean up that larger than life bowl, or platter that you have as a great decorative piece (make certain it doesn’t have lead paint: decorative only) and pile on the fresh lettuce, beet greens, and spinach leaves. Top this with grated carrots, chopped broccoli sprigs, chopped sweet banana and green…
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Garden Goodness: Layered Broccoli Salad
Our garden is really putting out right now: fruits and vegetables. The tomatoes and strawberries forecast a bit of the summer’s red promise of warmth and good eats. While the green is spread throughout the rest of the patch. There are a few weeds thrown in there too to keep me limber and close to the earth! We are just about ready to pick some broccoli… we have rows stretching the length of the garden growing and producing some good stuff! Keeping the area clean is keeping the insects at bay. Not the mosquitoes… but the ones that bite the veggies. I found a great recipe for broccoli salad. Cold…
