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! ;)

You know you're a baker when....

.....*brother walks over to the stove trying to find something to lick....notices a pot*
Jesse: "Why is there chocolate in the mashed potatoes?!?!?"
Me: "Ooops! Wrong pot!"  :}

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

Not in the club?!?

Me: *commenting on another blog* "Welcome to the blogging club!!"
Jesse: *face-palms* I'm not in the club!!! :(

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. :)

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.

G'by old friend....

Well, I have some sad news.....one of our good friends isn't with us any more.
 He has served us well, letting us stomp on him, and roll around on him, and sit around and tell jokes, or play telephone on him.
I think you all must know by now....Mr. Jumpy died on September 4, 2011. He was a good, and faithful friend to all, up to the very last of his days, and I am sure that we will remember him in our hearts always. :(

R.I.P.   Mr. Jumpy  :(

We're Off!

Well we are off to see our family in CT!! I'm not sure if I will be able to blog while I am there, and if not, I will write all about my vacation when I get back. :)
See you all in two weeks!! :D

Bath-time blues

 (Based on a true story)

"Come here girl!" Says a young girl, as she carries shampoo, towels, and the bright red collar to the bath post. "Woof! Woof!" The dog answers gleefully; secretly hoping that she was being called out to play fetch. She runs around the girl's legs, making her trip and almost fall.
They both make it to the bath post; and the girl talks happily to the dog as she pulls up her hair, and gets everything ready.
"Come here girl!"
The dog looks at the girl, than at the post. She puts her ears down, and tries to crawl away.
"Come here!"
A whimper and a wine, as the dog slowly crawls, in the longest possible route, to the girl and the dreaded bath post. The girl talks soothingly to the dog, as she ties her to the post. The dog whimpers pitifully as the hose is turned on, and the shampoo opened. The girl gently scrubs, and lathers the shampoo into the dogs thick, black fur. The dog's back, belly, and neck gets scrubbed, and the girl just starts on the dogs backside, as the dog decides to shake out her fur!
"No, no! Silly dog!"
She grins ruefully, as she tries to scrub faster to prevent the dog from shaking soap all over her again.
At last the dog is completely scrubbed over, and now for the rinsing. The soapy water runs over the girl's bare toes; the suds run down her arms. The last of the soap is finally washed away, and the dog starts to get restless. The girl reaches to untie the dog slowly.
"Ready...set...GO!!"
 At that, the dog races around the yard barking happily, pausing only to shake the water out of her fur.
The girl quickly grabs the towel, and runs after her. After a long race around the yard, the girl finally catches the dog, and rubs her with the big blue towel. After drying her as best she can, the girl opens the large glass sliding doors to the house, and the dog joyfully runs in, to the great annoyance of the other members in the family.
"EWW! She's all wet!"
"Hey! Your messing up all my clean clothes!"
"MOM! The dog got my bed wet!"
After making sure that everyone had complained at least once, she walks over to the girl, gives her a slobbery kiss with her big pink tongue, and lays down at her feet, as if to say: "I really don't like when you give me a bath, but I still love you all the same." :)

Mmm.....Pizza!

Saturday, me and Joe made dinner together, and as it was family-movie-night, we had pizza!

Joe made his favorite, which is 'meat lovers', and I made cheese with onions. :)

We started the pizza/movie-night tradition a few years ago and it stuck. We had originally started with boxed pizza (because it was nice and easy), and have now moved up to grilled in the summer, and regular homemade in the winter. We have tried stuffed crust (did not work at all; we just got cheese everywhere!), and mom created her own Mexican pizza; I love white pizza, with pesto and ricotta cheese, and we even made some hot buffalo-wings pizza! (another one of Joe's favorites)

This was the first time that Joe had put anything in the oven. (he was really exited) ;)

We had an extra round of pizza dough, so we made some surprise cinnamon-buns for desert! :D

And although I did accidentally burn the cheese on Joe's pizza, it was a fun and yummy pizza/family-movie-night!! :)

Fun summer days

WARNING: Please note that this post has a LOT of pictures. (Sarah you really need to show me how to do a slide show.) :}

Thursday we had some friends in town for a visit, so we decided to do something fun, and go to Songs in the Park. :)





The next day us girls made chocolate cupcakes, and everyone helped to make grilled pizza. :)

Everyone got to help with the pizza!

Fun summer weekend

Just because we don't go on summer vacation, doesn't mean that we never have fun in the summer. Like this last week-end. Saturday we went to the Farmers Market down town, and after made homemade pizza together.

Sunday, we went to the movies and seen the new Harry Potter movie. And yesterday we went blueberry picking! :) We went to Hillcrest farm in Alabama, and they have this really cute shop in their shed this year. They have jellys and jams, and they even have homemade ice-cream! It was a nice treat after picking in the heat all morning. :) After, we went to a cute little diner called 'Resturant' for lunch. :) It was really cute inside, with little pig decorations all over it. After we got home mom made yummy pork-chops for dinner, while I cleaned out the blueberries and put them in bags for the freezer. All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend. :)



Yummy blueberries!



Joe had coffee ice cream.( He really does like
it. Don't be fooled by the face) :)

Mom had coffee also.

I thought that I would try something new and have
cinnamon-pecan, and it was really good!

The cute dog loved licking our ice cream lids. :)

The yummy fruits of our labor!