Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Dog cookies, blueberry muffins and more

~Today was a fun filled baking day!!  I finally made a couple batches of my organic dog cookies. Pure sorghum, black strap molasses, other organic ingredients and here they are!!!
pawprints and small bones this time




Ahhhh....the boys will be happy happy when their mommy gets home with goodies for them!!


Also made some chocolate chocolate walnut brownies

Blueberry buttermilk bread

blueberry lemon muffins and some cranberry lemon cookies, some oatmeal cookies with cranberries and some smoothies!!  I froze the containers of smoothies and will go pick them up before market tomorrow!!  strawberry banana and orange cream were the 2 flavors I made.  I tried something a bit different in the smoothies, used coconut milk instead of regular milk.  AND I have to tell yall ....................yummy yummy yumminess! Love it!! The coconut really adds an awesome flavor to the fruits and combines with almost any fruit nicely.  What a treat for tonight!!
AND this is my Prince Leopold!!

He is in full strut!!  Miss Luella was watching him and really didnt care one bit he was showing off for her!!


He is so gorgeous!!   He knows too I tell him he is a pretty boy and so handsome and he ruffles those big feathers around and then does his call for me.  Such a ham!!


Miss Luella is in the left corner just casually walking around and he is trying so hard to get her interested!! LOL she's not having it!! 
LOL
So tomorrow is another market day at Foundry Hall in South Haven and I have some great new things including the ones I showed ya above but also made some great veggie burgers, some breakfast burritos, salads, stuffed zucchini boats with yogurt sauce.  Will try to get pics of them in the am!
Hope yall have a wonderful night!!  I am off to make supper, print labels, do chores, try to look up some new recipes for next week, work on a swap I am doing for a dear friend over at Primitive and Rustic, which by the way.............if yall are prim loves please stop by and say hey!! It is thru delphi forums and a great no awesome place to chat, learn, have fun, meet some truly talented and wonderful people!!  I have been a member for a few years and have made some lasting true friendships there!! They are family!!!  Primitive and Rustic forum at delphi.com  stop on by!!!  Tell em craftychick sent yall over!!
Will share more soon!!
HUGS
Darlene

~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Friday, April 20, 2012

Chicken Scratch Farms csa meals and beautiful blossoms

Hey yall!!! What a nice week we got our much needed rain and also some sun too.  With the warmer temps and the rain we enjoyed one of our most favo treats of spring!!  Morels!!
Those weird ruffled looking things that are incredibly difficult to find but ohhhhhhhhhh so yummy fried with some salt and pepper and dipped in flour.   YUMMY!!  We are going out to look again this weekend and maybe will have enough for another supper treat.  



Cranberry m&m oatmeal cookies

We also made some pineapple cakes that had a creamy cream cheese frosting.    I will say after making these a few weeks ago I decided to add a bit of moisture into them after baking and it also added a bit more pineapple flavor.  While warm out of oven I brushed on some pineapple juice I saved from one of the cans of pineapple.  Absolutely wonderful!

This is my strawberry banana bread.  A recipe I made a few years ago for markets to jazz up plain banana bread.  They get a touch of strawberry powdered sugar glaze drizzeled on top to add my "farmgirl bling"

Pistachio bread in oven.


Mini bundt 7 up cakes 

And the 7 up cakes drizzeled with more "farmgirl bling" instead of lemon juice with the glaze I decided to use more 7 up for more citrusy flavor.  YUMMY too!!

Regular size bundt cake another 7 up cake.  These are so yummy and moist and they freeze super well!!  We just slice them wrap in saran wrap then in ziploc bags. 

One of my csa meal options this week was my tomato basil mozzarella topped flatbread.  Halved grape tomatoes are placed in a bowl with some olive oil drizzzeld ontop and sweet basil leaves to marry together overnight.   Then they are baked ontop of my pizza dough rolled nice and thin and more olive oil drizzeled ontop.  I love a nice extra virgin olive oil on my pizzas it adds some nutty flavor to the topping without a ton of extra calories. 

Another meal option was my farmers casserole.  I make this for us on weekends when we have lots of veggies.  There are some steamed diced red taters on bottom, then I layer steamed broccoli, cheddar cheese, crumbled cooked maple sausage, onions and pour over 7 eggs for each one of these 9 1/2 shells, they are deep dish pans so it makes a nice thick casserole for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. 

Another of my new creations!! Mushrooms and zucchini are sauteed in olive oil with some crushed garlic cloves, basil and oregano then put ontop of my cornmeal pizza crust and baked with fresh mozzarella ontop.  I will say a tip when making flatbreads, or topped breads I like to wait til just about the end of baking time to add the cheeses.  they melt perfectly without burning or getting too crispy.  Flatbread perfection!! Will definetly make this again!! it was so good!!


Here's the tomato basil one baked up!

And I made some crusty baguette loaves too.

This bread has only a few ingredients and tastes like you had a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggg rise time!! but it really only takes 2 hours at most.  So crusty on the outside and chewy moist and flavorful inside.  

I soooooooooooo want my hubby to build me an outdoor brick oven!!  That would be so awesome for the flatbreads, crackers, crackerbread, ciabatta or just the loaves of bread!! dream on..........i know!! LOL


And here is the beautiful blossoms I spoke of~!  Dogwood is blooming here in SW MI and oh my goodness the trees are full!!  Lovely lovely blossoms!! 

Another clump of these pretties!!  OK so I am off to finish up next weeks menu options and then hubby and I are watching a couple of movies I picked up.  One being zookeeper!  Looks like a fun movie and I love Kevin Jame so should be good!! Hope yall have a most blessed weekend!!
HUGS
Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Baking day today

Hey yall!!!  hope yall are having a great start to a new week!  I have been a bit under the weather lately so sorry I have been neglectful on my blog!! I miss posting! 
Today is a busy full baking day for market tomorrow.   
I am making some build your own tacos, they will get locally made taco shells, lettuce tomatoe and cheeses packaged up and either veggies or meats, plus a pkg of homemade cilantro lime sauce.  My version of a shepherds pie, veggies in a creamy sauce baked with a mound of cheesey taters on top, a farmers casserole, another recipe I made for us at home and it is yummy!   Tomato basil topped flatbread with parmesan and fresh mozzarella.
And a few other things will also be made.  I will post pics tonight when I get home. 
The "boys" are doing great and Buster Brown is in love playing with the little "girls" my mom's 2 puppies.  Abbey and Cissey are growing so quick, we took them for another vet check and puppy shots yesterday and Abbey is 19.1 pounds and little Cissey is 9.4 pounds. 

This is my mom's weeping cherry tree.  I dont think it has ever been so full of beautiful blooms in fact most of the spring flowering trees have been so full, they almost look artificial!!  But oh it is pretty outside!! 

The girls playing with a squeaky ball outside

Another pic of the cherry tree

My Buster taking a break from playing with the girls. 
It is pretty cold out this am I made a fire in the furnace to take the chill out of the house.   We sure have had crazy crazy weather this year.  Yesterday am we had thunderstorms and it was 65 and so windy then during the day it dropped down to 42 and even more blustery out.  We are at 38 this am but it feels a bit cooler out but at least no wind today!!  I heard on the news only gonna be in the 50s and sunny.  The up in MI is getting flurries so glad we arent!!   We had some nice rain over the weekend and the asparagus is almost ready for pickin!!  WOO HOO!! Love fresh asparagus!! Cant wait to start making things with it~~
Hope yall have a super tues!! I will be back very soon!!
HUGS
Darlene 
  ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Pizzas, breads, cookies and more!!


We made some sugar cookies and cut them into flowers, some as you can see have a stick in. 

Little flowers and lines make them pop!!


took these to markets this week and they all went quick.

I decided to try a new pizza crust recipe I found, which by the way is delish and soooooooooooooo easy peasy to make!! 
Pizza Crust Recipe:
2 cups warm (around 110 degrees)
2 pkg dry yeast (or 1/2 oz active dry yeast)
1 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
This made 4 nice size crusts and this dough can be frozen in individual pkgs to take out 1 at a time.
My crusts were 14 oz each. 
place water in warmed bowl, sprinkle yeast on top, cover and let sit 5 minutes. 
Using whisk or fork mix water and yeast cover and let sit 5 more minutes, it will be frothy on top and then ready to use.
While waiting for your yeast to proof in mixing bowl or large bowl combine flour, cornmeal and salt blend together.  In bowl combine oils and add to flour mixture, add your proofed yeast and mix well.  This dough will be wet and sticky!  I sprayed the top of dough with some pam and covered with seran wrap and a tea towel.    Let sit in warm place for 1/2 hour. 
Ready to roll out and use!!
Top with your favo toppings and Enjoy!


This was a new recipe for me!! Tomato corn pie and let me just say one word>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> YUMMO!!  I found the recipe on pinterest and it is in my baking board on pinterest.  id = Darlene Stumpf-Westfahl
this is definetly worth making, it was on my csa for last week and I recieved several postitive comments. 

Here's the spinach mozzarella pizza!  This reminded me of some flatbread I made a couple years ago and it is so worth the time it takes.  Really it isnt too much just a few steps.   I cut up about 2 cloves of garlic and sauteed in a pan then added a pound of fresh spinach leaves and let that simmer down.  To me it has wayyyy more flavor in spinach than steaming!!  YUMMY! and good for you too!!


Tops of tomato corn pie

And a Martha Stewart recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies!  Yes flourless!! so for all you gluten free peoples this is a must make recipe!!  I added chopped roasted peanuts and didnt add the chocolate chips to the recipe.  you can get the recipe at Martha Stewarts site, I will post it here tomorrow it is at the kitchen.  Great easy peasy recipe too!!


So that was about it for the weeks baking, I am off til monday.  Gonna get some scrapping done and go shopping with my mommy!~  love those days!! we have so much fun together!!  love her with all my heart and would be lost in this life without my bestest friend....my mom!!
Hope yall have a Blessed Easter!! and enjoy this early spring weather!!
HUGS!
Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~