Perfect Summer Weekend

You don't have to grow all your own food to take advantage of all the great produce in your area. This weekend I went up to Lake Michigan and stopped to pick some of their sweet cherries...amazing!









The farm we stopped at lets you pick all types of fruit: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches. I could get in trouble in a place like that!

When we got home, we had a great dinner with all the produce from our own garden. It was a feast!


The cucumber salad had cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions from our garden. We also had our green beans (we spent the weekend canning!), potatoes, and yellow squash. The fruit salad and dessert included blueberries picked at a local farm.

Sweet Potatoes

So things have been a little hectic at work lately so I haven't had time to blog...sorry! But we have had some excitement in the garden since my last posting...Sweet Potatoes are ready!



My dad check on them last week and was happy with what he saw so we decided to dig them all up.



This was our first attempt at sweet potatoes and I'd say we'll definitely be planting them again next year! Some of our potatoes were a good two pounds.



We made a delicious sweet potato casserole that night (http://southernfood.about.com/od/sidedishcasseroles/r/bl90911u.htm), which should be classified as a dessert and not a vegetable! And then I had a baked sweet potato the following night. Any suggestions about what I should do with them this week?

Summer Harvest Family Picnic

Every summer we have a big family picnic on the first Saturday of August. We get together at two of my uncles' houses (they live right next door to each other) for a baseball game, grilled corn, lots of food, and homemade beer.

The baseball game used to be a leisurely event that was fun for both the young and old. Well our young aren't so young anymore and as a result, the baseball game is a little more competitive. This year I was on the winning team...yea! I have to admit I hit pretty well, but I really just hid in the shade of right field when our team was in the field. Each year my brother and some cousins dress up the outfield hill. This year they went with a big "M."



After the game, we head to my other uncle's house courtesy of a hayride. The tracker used to pull us was actually my great-grandfathers old John Deer (I'll try to get a picture). Then it's food time!

My Aunt Mary and I decided to make some festive cupcakes. First we had a floral bouquet:






We also made corn on the cob cupcakes:




Overall it was a great evening!

Deb's quote of the week:
My mom has decided that crossword puzzles are her new thing. She's getting really good at them. However, she'll occasionally ask for help from the family. It then turns into a family activity and she gets mad because we've taken over her puzzle :) Here are two mistakes we found recently when trying to help her:

Clue-- Barbecue
Puzzle-- _ _ _ l l
Mom's answer-- SMELL...um, how about GRILL

Clue--Bull;SP
Puzzle-- _ _ _ _
Mom's answer-- SHIT...um, SP means Spanish so it's TORO

She's so great! Only mom would think they'd put SHIT in a crossword puzzle!

Ummm....Taters!

Growing up, my family (dad, mom, me, and my younger brother, Eric) always vacationed with my Aunt and Uncle and their kids. We always found a quiet little island off the Carolinas or in the Gulf where we could collect sharks teeth, ride bikes, play cards, eat, and have a great time! Now my brother and my cousin, Andrew, are two peas in a pod! They are goofy, outgoing, witty, sometimes annoying boys! There was one particular vacation when I was in high school or early college where those two were in especially rare form! Their quick wit and goofiness was pushing my Uncle Jim to the edge (Oh Uncle Jim...there are no words to describe him!). I don't know how it started or why it started, but the entire week (and still to this day when potatoes are eaten) those two ran around giggling about taters! "Ummm taters" is all I remember from that trip. So this blog entry is dedicated to Eric and Andrew...ummm TATERS!

Here's a picture of some of us (there are about 5 people missing from this trip) during our Grand Canyon adventure a few years ago.


So, we dug potatoes last night. In April, we planted red, white, and Yukon gold potatoes. You plant potatoes in the spring by getting old potatoes that have started to grow eyes (the white viney things). You can cut each eye out separately, along with a chunk of the potato, and plant the eye.

Come summer time, the potato plant will get large and flower, while below lots of potatoes are waiting. We dug two rows last night and here's what we got:

That's a lot of potatoes considering we still have five more rows to dig!

When you're digging potatoes, it's easiest to use a pitch fork. But be careful not to stab the potatoes! If you do injure one, make sure you eat it soon...if not, it may rot! Use the pitch fork to lift the plant from the ground and flip it over. Hopefully you'll find lots of taters underneath.



Keep the potatoes dry and cool and they should last for a while. We usually store ours in the basement.

Here's a picture of our biggest catch:

On the right is a normal sized red potato...on the left is the queen bee of red potatoes!

I promise to add some potato recipes soon!

Finally...another quote from Deb! Although this isn't really a quote, it's more of a disgusting statement:
We were at my parents having dinner, bring the food to the table about to eat, when my mom calls my brother. He was out of town and she had been dog-sitting. She proceeded to tell him that Knuckles (the dog) had "runny poopie" that day. Really mom!!??!! Great dinner conversation!

Hawaiian Strawberry Pie

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! We had a wonderful cookout with my dad last night to celebrate. I was responsible for bringing the dessert so I thought I'd use all the wonderful berries I've picked lately to make a new recipe I found.

I saw the recipe for Hawaiian Strawberry pie on http://joelens.blogspot.com/ last week. I immediately thought it would be a great recipe for the cookout...I was right, it was a big hit! Yummy, and nice and light for a HOT afternoon. Here's the recipe:

Hawaiian Strawberry Pie
recipe inspired by Baker's Square/Village Inn Restaurant

1 (15oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons
2 cups whipped cream (homemade or store bought)--(I used cool whip)
1 9-inch baked pie crust (homemade or store bought)--(I used store bought graham cracker crust)
1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup coconut flakes, toasted
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted--(I didn't use the pecans)

Place pineapple in a sieve and smash it to a pulp to release the juice. Reserve juice if desired but you won't need it for the rest of the recipe. Transfer the pineapple pulp to a large bowl.

Combine the pineapple, cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl. Fold in 1 cup of whipped cream.

Transfer the pineapple cream cheese filling to the baked and cooled pie crust. Spread evenly to fill the crust. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

While pie is chilling, combine the strawberries and 2 tablespoons of sugar; set aside to macerate to release the juices. Drain the juices and set aside just before serving.

Just before serving the pie, top the pineapple cream cheese filling with the macerated and drained strawberries. Sprinkle toasted coconut flakes and chopped pecans over the top for garnish. Pipe the remaining 1 cup of whipped cream on the edge as a border and serve

What's for dinner?

I didn't spend much time in the garden this weekend because I took a road trip down to Kentucky to visit my BFF, Dana, her husband Chad, and their son Anthony (I heart him!)



Sunday afternoon I did spend some time weeding with my dad, aunt Mary, and mom (yep, she helped again...although she was very cranky about it!) We cleaned up the beans, tomatoes, and lettuces. It's looking much better. Dad and Mary like to use tools (tiller or hoe) to weed but I prefer just pulling them out by hand, especially when the ground is still damp from the previous day's rain.

Since we have gotten so much rain lately, I have been eating most meals straight from the garden. A big salad for dinner every night! Sunday nights we always have family dinners at my parents. It's my mom's way to get us all together once a week, not that we need an excuse but the food is always yummy! Last night we had pork chops (well I didn't but everyone else did), a salad, potatoes, and peas. Everything but the meat came from the garden. Such a rewarding feeling!

I decided to lend a hand this week for dinner and cook the peas and potatoes. The snow snap peas were rinsed and the very ends snapped off, then I put them in a big skillet with some olive oil and seasonings. I let them cook on medium for about 10 minutes. They turn bright green when they're done! And they're delicious! You can cook them as long as you'd like but I like them to still have some crunch. Sorry there are no pictures of the end product, it was gone before I could get the camera out. But here's what we started with....




Even though the potatoes aren't done yet, we dug some up and they were excellent! I tried something new with them. I baked them in the oven on 425 in a glass dish that had been sprayed with Pam. Then I washed the potatoes and cut them into slices without completely cutting them apart. Then I melted some butter, added some chives (also from the garden) and seasonings and spread it on top. I baked them for about an hour but I could have put foil on top the whole time to speed up the process. I actually got a picture of the last two before I ate them. I'll definitely use this recipe again!


Just for fun:
My mom says the funniest things so I thought I'd start adding some of them to the blog. Here's her quote from last night:
We were watch a home improvement show and they were remodeling a boat house. They added fans with misters in them to help it stay cool and keep away the bugs. My mom said:
"Won't you get wet with mister?" No...really, mom! I love her!