The sweet flavors of summer....

Fruit is one of my greatest joys in summertime, and although they are very good plain, I love to bake with them! Baking with fruit is (for the most part) simple to do, and I love adding fruit to pound cakes, and bunt cakes, as well as pancakes and tarts. But one of the more tricky things to make with fruit is jam. And as I have a bad habit of changing recipes and substituting ingredients to make it the way I want, they don't always come out as I would like: especially with jam. So I guess I could be a good girl (as Nona says), and make the recipes the way I am supposed to and they will most always turn out perfect every time.....but where's the fun in that?!? I love to experiment with new ideas and flavors, and come up with many delicious ideas in the process.

So the other day I decided to make peach jam. We had ordered two big boxes of peaches from a friend, and although we were eating them as fast as we could, and I was baking with them in almost everything, we still had a whole box left and they were starting to go bad.

It took me well over two hours, but I finished the
whole box. And the total count for one, 25lb
box of  peaches was: 36 jars! I had never made so much
jam in my life. And the one thing that was cool, was
it was fun! (although I was really, REALLY sick of
peaches after that....) ;P

So having finished the peaches, I decided to try a new
recipe that I have had on my list for the longest time:
Pop Tarts.

So I set up my station and got to work. A friend had given me a recipe for peach jam with Earl Grey tea steeped in it. It sounded really good, so I decided to try it.....

I decided to use strawberry jam for the
filling, and they turned out really well!
(I'll try to post the recipe on here
sometime soon.)

 They turned out nice and flaky, with just the right amount of jam in them. (Similar to a regular pop tart, but with flavors that delight your taste buds, giving you the delusion that you have your very own personal pastry chef....)  ;)

And these are made with whole wheat--thus making them healthy for you too! :D

The peaches were done, and the pop tarts out of the oven, and I was just getting ready to clean up the kitchen when mom reminded me that we had three packages of grapes sitting in the fridge.....and you know what that meant.....

More jam! :)

This time, I didn't add enough pectin, and I had to empty the jars back into the pot and re-do it, but even though it frustrated me, I didn't give up: and now we have 50 jars of jam! That's all in one day, and it only took about four hours (which could seem like quite a long time, but put some of your favorite music on, and just loose yourself in the sweet flavors and aromas of fruit, and it will go by much faster than you would think!) You can add most any flavors that you like to jams, and its super easy to play around with them, so just have fun with it, and I wish you happy jamming! ;)


Simple Peach Jam:

10 cups fresh peaches (pitted and chopped)
4 cups sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
2 packages dry pectin (or- 6 or 7 tbs)

Mix the peaches, sugar, and lemon juice together in a large heavy pot (cast iron works best, but just about any pot will do), and turn the burner on med./low. The mixture will seem a bit dry, but keep stirring and the natural juices of the peaches will come out. Higher the heat to a little over med. You can pretty much leave it alone (stirring occasionally), until it starts to boil. Meanwhile, sterilize your jars and lids (either put them through the "sanitize" setting of your dishwasher, or fill a large pot with water, set them in there, and heat the water to just about boiling.) After the mixture starts to boil, keep an eye on it, and continue to stir it occasionally. Once it starts to boil rapidly (like a rolling boil....where it boils even when you stir it), add the pectin and stir it in. Let it boil with the pectin for two min., stirring two or three times (just so it doesn't splatter or anything). While you are waiting, get a wide-mouthed cereal bowl and fill it with ice and a little water. Take a smaller bowl and put it on top (the ice should be touching the bottom of the top bowl). Once the two min is up, turn off the heat, and with a small spoon, take a bit of the soon-to-be peach jam and put it in the top bowl. Wait about a min, and then with your finger or another spoon, test it to see if it has jelled. If it doesn't jell, then put the heat back on med,/high, and wait for it to boil again. Once it gets back to a rolling boil, add one or two more tbs pectin (or 1/2 to a whole packet). If it DID jell, then fill your jars to about 1/4th inch to the top, and put the lids on. Once they all are full, place them upright in a water bath (a.k.a.= the pot of water that you sterilized your jars in) for 7 min. When they are done, take them out and stet them on a towel or wooden cutting board (cooling racks tend to be a bit wobbly) and let cool completely. Do NOT touch them until they are completely cool! By touching or moving them, you could mess up the seal (BTW, the lids on the jars will give a loud pop when they seal, so don't be alarmed--it is completely normal). Once they are cool, you can store them in your pantry for up to a year, and refrigerate after opening. Enjoy! :)

Friends, Fireworks, and Food!

I hope you all had an amazing Fourth of July! :)

We had a fun day planned, and we were busy all day planning and getting ready to go to our friends house for a Fourth of July party later that evening.

And since we live down here in "Sunny Florida" it decided to rain for us here about noon. You can be sure that we were incredibly disappointed, and my brothers were in the lowest state of despair.
"How can we light fireworks in the rain?"
"Will the party be canceled?"
These and other questions came from the boys as they sat on the living room floor listening to the rain pelt our house.
Everyone was upset, and dad went to check the weather report on the computer.
I had planned on making some yummy goodies to bring to the Fourth of July party, and I decided that I would still make them. Yummy eatables taste just as good at home as they do at a party, so I got my favorite measuring cup out (I can't quite bake happily without it), and set to work.
I was planning on making an appetizer and a desert, and mom was making salsa.
The desert was a berry buttermilk bunt cake with a lemon glaze that I had found online, and I had tweaked the recipe a bit. I actually hadn't planned it, strawberries and blueberries being the only berries in the house, but when cut into, the cake was red, white and blue! (I love when things work out like that....)

The cake turned out really well except for the fact that it could have been cooked a little longer, but it actually tasted really good!

So I had decided to try something savory for a change as I don't normally make things like that, so the appetizer was a Ratatouille Tart. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs: Smitten Kitchen. You can find so many great recipes on there, and they are relatively simple to try too.

 The tart was surprisingly easy, and it called for frozen puffed pastry from the store, so you don't even have to make your own crust (although you definitely could if you wanted to).

Ratatouille Tart:

 18 oz. frozen puffed pastry 1 Asian eggplant

1 small zucchini 1 small yellow squash

1 bell pepper (any color you like) 1/3 cup tomato puree (I used crushed tomatoes)

2 Tbs olive oil Salt and pepper

A few sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried) 1 cup crumbled feta

Defrost the puffed pastry overnight. The next day: heat oven to 375F. Lightly flour a work surface, lay one sheet of the pastry out (there should be two sheets in the box), and gently roll out until it measures about 11x15in. (the dough looked like it was going to just unfold, but it didn't. You just have to roll out the folded piece--just how it is.) Slide the pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (we didn't have any at the time, so i just sprinkled a little flour on the pan, and it worked fine).

Poke the pastry all over with a fork. Spread the tomato puree evenly over the dough, leaving a one-inch border around the edges. Trim the ends off the veggies; for the pepper, you have to cut the ends off carefully, then hollow out the middle, leaving the edges intact, like a tube. On a mandolin, adjustable-blade slicer, or with a very sharp knife,* slice the veggies into very thin slices (about 1/16 of an inch thick). Arrange slightly overlapped slices of vegetables in rows over the puree, alternating vegetables (don't forget to leave the 1in border around the edges). You will probably have a few left over (I ended up with a BUNCH left over, so make sure your veggies are small when you get them at the store.....or just use half). Drizzle olive oil over the top of the tart, and season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves (no stems). Bake in a heated oven until the pastry is puffed and browned (including the bottom), and the veggies look softened, 25 to 30 mins. Slide onto cutting board, sprinkle with feta, and cut into squares or strips (a pizza wheel works really well for this). Serve warm or at room temperature.

*For the peppers, I found that the mandolin wouldn't slice it well, so I filled the pepper with paper towels (so it would hold its shape), and sliced it thinly with a steak knife. :)

Now since the pack of puffed pastry came with two sheets of dough, and it was still raining, I decided to make another tart: a sweet one this time.

I rolled out the dough exactly how it said in the first recipe, and made a sauce-like base to go on the bottom:

2 or 3 med. size spoonful's of ricotta cheese (this would be amazing with mascarpone cheese too.)
a few tbs lemon juice
about 1 tsp lemon zest
3 or 4 tbs sugar (just keep adding and tasting until you get the sweetness you want--it doesn't have to be very sweet.)**

And just mix it all together and spread it evenly on the crust (just like in the last recipe).

I then sliced a bunch of strawberries roughly: 1/8 to 1/4 inch. And I laid them in rows on the tart (remembering to leave the one-inch edge). When I had the tart covered with strawberries, I sprinkled some blueberries over the top (I think it would be best with fresh blueberries, but i used half-frozen ones and it was really good).

Then I made a really simple crumb topping:

2 or 3 handfuls of flour (depending on your hand size)

1 med. size handful brown sugar

a few tbs soft butter

Just mix it all together with a fork. For the butter, just add it 1 tbs at a time until it is crumbly, but will stick together if you squeeze it with your hand. For the brown sugar, you can taste a little bit of the mixture (after everything is mixed in) to see if you have to add more **(note: the crumb topping should be sweeter than the ricotta mixture, so make sure not to make the ricotta mixture extremely sweet, as the crumb topping shouldn't be really sweet either.) Then sprinkle the crumb topping over the fruit in little pieces (the butter should have made it stick together a little bit).

Then, to just add just a little bit more lemon, I mixed 3 or 4 tbs sugar with a few tsp lemon zest, and sprinkled it on the top--only this I also sprinkled on the edges of the crust as well (just so it didn't' get left out.....and so it wouldn't be quite so flavorless).

And that's it! This wasn't the first time I had tried to make something like this without a recipe, but it was the first time that I did and it turned out really good!! :D

So I am sorry that I couldn't give a better recipe, but I actually was in a rush when I made it, so the fact that I actually got pictures was surprising. :}

And by the time I finished the last tart, it had stopped raining and it was time to go to the party! We got to hang out with a bunch of friends, played games, and afterwards we all went down town to see the fireworks. I don't have any pictures, but you can take my word for it--it was one of the best Wednesdays ever! ;)

They're here!!! =D

Yesterday Patches gave birth to two beautiful baby girls!! One is black and one is white and......well, I'll just let you see for yourself! :)

OK people, start helping me find some names!!
=D

This is how much snow our family got in CT.  It's funny because on that same day it was 75F for us!! :)

We're Expecting!!

Well not a baby exactly.....a kid! Like as in a goat kid (or two)! :) Our goat Patches is pregnant, and should have her baby(s) the end of this month, or the beginning of next. I will post pictures when they are born, and maybe you all can come and see them! =D

This is our silly goat Patches.

And this is a picture of her from last year with her two babies
Pearl, and Cheeto. :)

Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

I am finally writing this post! I have been wanting to do this post for the last two weeks, and here I am! I also thought that it might make it a little more Christmas-y as --at least over here-- it is hot, muggy and rainy. :P

So first I have to tell you all about our Christmas tree story. Um...yeah...it's quite a story. :}
To start with, we always have a real tree, and so, we normally go to the nursery by our house (well, not right by our house...you get what I mean.), and mom picks out the 'perfect' tree. Now we got all ready to go, we were all dressed up because we were going to take our Christmas pictures in front of all the trees. But then the boys had a squabble about who got to sit in the fron seat, and mom said that she didn't feel like going after that. So the next day we tried again, and it was raining (actually it seems to be a tradition for us to always end up getting our tree on the wettest, rainiest days.). The rain stopped, and we got all ready to go, then, right as we were heading out the door, it started up again!! But we were determined to go that day, so we sat down and waited for the rain to stop. After about 45 minutes of us waiting, it finally stopped. We all ran to the car, and headed out.
We pulled up to the nursery, and mom thought that is was closed because no one else was there....but then she remembered the rain, and we all got out. We looked at all the trees they had. Big trees, and little trees, fat trees and skinny trees. Ten foot trees, and Charley Brown trees (I actually really wanted one because they were so cute.). :) And after looking at every tree at least 5 times, Joe picked out the 'perfect' tree. The man tied it up in the twine-net stuff, and mom gave Jesse the keys to unlock the car for the men to tie the tree to the car. THE BIG MISTAKE!
So the guys get the tree tied securely, and they close the doors. Mom then remembers that she has to pay for it (fancy forgetting that!), and she locks the car....and....shuts...the...door.
Jesse: *running in slow motion* NOOOOOO!!!!

So, have you figured it out yet? Jesse left the keys on the passenger's seat in the car. Yeah. My brother....the genius. ;)
We stood there staring through the window at them shining away in the Christmas lights. Then Joe notices that the window is opened a crack!
Joe: Hey Jesse! Lift me up so I can squeeze my arm through to reach the Lock/Unlock button!
So that is what Jesse did, and we all heard the magical *CLICK* of the button as Joe unlocked the door! We all shouted for joy! (and that is also where the guys working at the nursery started looking at us like we were crazy or something.) :} Joe had successfully unlocked the car!! Yeah!! My brother....the genius!! ;) (see what I did there?)
Mom pocketed the keys after that, and after paying for the tree, we managed to get home without any more 'adventures'! :D
And that is the tree that you see here:

It actually looks kinda messy in this picture...hmmm...might need to work on that. :}
We have a bunch of old antique ornaments, and we did have an antique star on the top that lit up, but it broke. :( We also had three antique angels that we used after the star broke, but for the last tree years dad has broken them, either putting them up or taking them down. :}







Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

My penguin that I got the year before last.
(notice how he is eating a fish.) ;)

I don't know why but this has always been the ornament that I
always put up. It has been my favorite for as long as I can
remember. (The little bears are just too cute!) :D

This is one of our antique ones. These always get
put on the TOP of the tree so little hands can't
reach them. :)

And this is an ornament made by my great aunt.
It is made out of safety-pins, and beads.
(I actually have one on my book shelf.) :) 



So that's a little taste of our Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed it, and have a wonderful Christmas yourself! :D

Season of colors....

I love fall.... :)

Just took the PSAT test......this is what I feel like. ;)

(reblogged from: http://holdenhardman.tumblr.com/ )

Now there's a guy with eyes bigger than his stomach!

Mystery flower

Yesterday, mom called me from the front porch, "Sarah did you plant something right here?"
As I had no clue where 'right here' was, I went out to investigate, and seen to my surprise a flower right smack in the midst of weeds, by the front-porch. (I would describe it, but I thought that a picture would make more sense...) :)              

After I seen the flower, I remembered that I had planted some bulbs there sometime....(I don't remember when)(sometime this year), and they never came up. So here I was, all exited that they finally bloomed, when I remembered--I had planted at least 25-30 bulbs!!!! And all of 2 ended up coming up. :(   If anyone has any idea what kind of flower this is, please let me know! :)

Fishing adventures

Last week, me, Jesse and our dad went fishing at the bayou, and on our way back we decided to try our luck at 9 mile river.

On our way to the bayou.

Trying out the cast-net.

A little friend I found.

The reflection of the river.

:)

Mom and dad went fishing early this morning, and caught a lot of fish, and lots of pictures. :)

An alligator that they seen.